You're a What?
by Swarm012
Summary: Bring It On Xover BTVS - AU.The killings and sleeping with Xander never happened, but after defeating Kakistos, Faith leaves town. But with yet another threat in Sunnydale, the Scooby's go find Faith for help. Out of order events. Buffy/Faith
1. Chapter 1

_**You're a What?!**_

Just watched Bring It On and this idea popped into my head.

The killings and sleeping with Xander never happened, but after defeating Kakistos, Faith leaves town. But with yet another threat in Sunnydale, the Scooby's go find Faith for help.

Events are going to be jumbled up, and the timelines won't make sense either, but bear with me, even if you're confused.

Bring It On Xover BTVS

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**Chapter 1**

Stuffing her last crumpled shirt into the old duffel bag, Faith took one last look around the dingy motel room. The shattered door was still not fixed since Kakistos had barged through it. Since the manager had died, the motel was not open until someone else took his place. She took in the sights of peeling yellow paint and the slight odor that lingered in the rat trap motel. Lugging the straps over her shoulders, the young brunette walked over the threshold and took one last look at the place she called home for the past few weeks. She remembered trying to make the room a bit "homier" by adding Christmas lights around the walls, just so that she could feel that family love again. Then her mind wandered to Buffy reluctantly inviting her for dinner with her mother on Christmas. Even though Faith knew that Buffy did not want her to be there, she still held onto a tiny spark of hope that the blonde was just placing a façade on. Her hopes were shattered when the blonde took off that night to save her vampire lover, leaving Faith with Joyce. Joyce was almost every daughter's dream, and Faith picked up on that right away. She already knew that Joyce wanted the best for Buffy, and that meant that she would want to sacrifice Faith for it. Wanting a 'normal' life for Buffy, Joyce thought that Faith could take over Buffy's role as the Slayer for the hellmouth, but Faith knew better. This town was Buffy's, not hers.

Her worn boots clunked on the grey pavement, heading towards Sunnydale High. Today was different, after everything she's experienced, she came to a realization and had made her decision. Her normally heavily made up face was now in favor of natural tones. Gone was the dark lipstick and caked make up. By the time Faith knew it, she was in front of the library doors. Fingering the strap on her shoulder, Faith sucked in one big breath and released a heavy sigh. She shook her head and a determined expression was set. Pushing the doors open, she walked in to find that the Scooby's were happily eating lunch there. Lightly scoffing at the picture-perfect friends, Faith let her eyes linger on the blonde that haunted her dreams and desires. As if Buffy sensed Faith, she stopped her conversation with Willow and looked at Faith with a smile on her face.

"Hey Faith!" shouted a gleeful Buffy.

Faith just nodded in response and gave another nod to Willow and Xander. Willow shyly smiled while Xander tried to be manly and attempted to give a nod to the brunette (which he failed miserably). They all noticed the change in Faith's demeanor and appearance today. She no longer had that over-confident swagger and she did not even wear any leather.

"Where's Giles?" asked Faith.

Suddenly coming out of his office with a book in his hand, Giles looked at Faith and shut the book in his hand.

"Right here" he said, "Is there anything I could do for you Faith?"

Faith nervously shuffled her feet and gave Giles a regretful look. The old Watcher was a bit disturbed by this sudden change in Faith. He too was accustomed to her flamboyance, and this side of her unnerved him.

"Faith?" he asked again with concern, "Are you alright?"

Snapping up her head to meet his gaze, she put on a fake smile and nodded her head.

"Five by five, but I'm just here to say something. I'm…uhh…leaving."

The Scooby's simply stared at the brunette, unsure of what to feel or do. Buffy's face blanched and her smile immediately fell. Willow's eye's opened up widely and her jaw slightly dropped. Xander just blinked and tried to process what she said.

"Leaving? What do you mean Faith?" asked Giles.

"I'm leaving Sunnydale, as fun as it's been, I think it's time for me to go."

Giles took off his glasses and began to dutifully clean them even though they were already spotless, he blinked his eyes several times while his mouth opened and closed, trying to think of what to say to the determined brunette.

"W-well Faith, I do believe that it is essential that you stay here on the hellmouth, after all it is better to have two slayers here."

"Nah Giles, B's got it covered here. Sides, this town's too small for two hot superchicks with powers."

Before Giles could intervene, Willow suddenly appeared in front of the pair, scaring both Faith and Giles.

"Y-you can't leave now Faith! I mean, you just got here, and I just got to know you now. Is it because of me? I know I was a bit jealous that you were stealing my friends – wait I didn't mean that, I just meant you were all they talked about and they didn't hang out with me anymore, no, I didn't mean that either! I meant I finally know a bit about you, and I really like you as a friend even if you had taken up so much of Buffy's and Xander's time before. Somebody please stop me now" said Willow in one gigantic breath.

The brunette looked at the redhead, impressed that she could say that long of a sentence in one breath. Placing a comforting hand on Willow's shoulder, Faith gave her a smirk and lightly squeezed her reassuringly.

"Ain't got a problem with you Red, I like ya too. You're a wicked cool person, don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. If they do, call me and I'll personally make sure they can't say anything ever again."

Willow slightly pouted and kept her gaze down. In a small voice she asked, "Then why are you leaving?"

Faith sighed once again and crossed her arms over her chest. With a small shrug, she answered, "Got my own reasons. Finally figured out what's important."

This time, Xander quickly went over to them and tried to put in his own thoughts about the girl.

"It isn't about me staring at you all the time right? I'll stop I swear!"

Bursting out in laughter, Faith playfully punched him in the arm and patted his back. She slipped her arm around his neck and gave him a side hug, still chuckling from his outburst.

"Oh I've got no problem with the staring, gotten used to it by now."

This whole time, Buffy was still trying to process the fact that Faith was about to leave and it was not until Giles spoke up again did she snap out of it.

"Faith, as much as I would like for you to stay, I cannot force you. Is there any way for us to contact you in case any emergency were to happen?"

"Shit G-man, this is the hellmouth we're on, how many emergencies are there gonna be?"

"You have to leave us some way to contact you" said Xander, "You know, phone number, address, e-mail, destination for the Morse code, we can even do smoke signals!"

"Alright Xan-man, an e-mail."

Swiping a pen from the counter, Faith grabbed Xander's arm and began to write onto his forearm. After she was done, Xander tried to read the address, but the words were backwards and he ended up trying to twist his arm and head in odd positions to read it. Checking her watch, Faith gave them a sad smile and readjusted the straps on her shoulder.

"Gotta motor, my bus leaves in like 30 minutes."

Willow and Xander immediately gave the young girl a huge group hug, even managing to make her gasp a bit with their force.

"Breathing becoming an issue here guys" gasped Faith.

"Sorry!" the duo said before releasing her.

"Alright, bye guys. Bye Buffy."

Quickly walking out of the library, Faith sprinted out of the school after clearing the hallway. She had to get out of there as fast as she could before she decided to change her mind. It was the right thing to do, for herself as well as for Buffy. She felt like she was finally doing the right thing.

Buffy still sat in the same seat, slightly dazed and confused at what had happened just minutes before. Had Faith really just left her with only a good bye? She shook her head and jumped up before anyone could stop her, she was running after Faith.

At the bus station, Faith gripped her ticket as she sat down on the cold bench, waiting for her bus to arrive. She buried her head into her hands and thought about what she was leaving behind; a blossoming friendship with Willow and Xander.

After Faith had whisked Buffy away for the nth time, Willow finally gathered the courage to talk to Faith about her stealing her best friend, and Faith had started to feel some empathy for the redheaded nerd. Faith wanted to get on the defensive, but seeing Willow with tears swimming in her eyes, she stopped any witty remarks and just apologized to the redhead, throwing them both off. Then Willow's brain finally figured something out, after all her feelings of jealousy were pushed aside, she saw Faith for the first time. The brunette was just a young girl trying to make it in the world, and it was then that the redhead truly reached out to give Faith her friendship.

Xander had been a different case. He still lusted after her, just like he did for Buffy, but after an intense debate about comics and Batman, they understood each other. He no longer felt like such a geek when the "big bad Faith" had the same interests as him and Faith felt that she could connect with another male other than with just sex. She saw a little bit of how much of a nice guy he was, and that he could never be like any of the other's she had used.

Now she settled on Buffy. The reason why she so wanted to stay, and the reason that she had to leave. Her feelings for the blonde gradually grew from lust, to crush, to straight out loving the girl. Even though she acted like a snobby spoiled teenage brat, there was something that drew Faith in. After she had, taken the stick out of her ass, as Faith would have said, Buffy was fun to be around and she admired her even more. She knew she would never get anywhere with the blonde after they were dancing at the Bronze. Despite the fun they had, Buffy immediately ran off to Angel when she saw him. It was then that Faith knew she stood no chance against the brooding vampire.

The annoying voice in the loudspeakers made her come out of her musings and shake her head at all the thoughts swimming through her mind. She grabbed her belongings and started walking towards her bus until she felt a hand on her shoulder. Whipping her head back, Faith went into defensive position and almost swung out at the intruder.

"Whoa Faith watch it!" shouted Buffy.

"B?" asked Faith while she retracted her fist, "What are you doing here?"

Shakily gliding her fingers through her hair, Faith scowled in the inside. She had just pushed Buffy out of her mind and now the girl just had to show up for real.

"W-well Faith, you're leaving and I just…I just want to know why…we were having fun weren't we?" asked Buffy with a sad smile.

Faith cursed at herself for making Buffy sad, but she put on a mask and smirked at the blonde.

"Course we were B! The Chosen Two ripping it in Sunnyhell. We did have wicked fun, but this isn't my town B. As much as I would like to be here, this isn't my place, it's yours."

"We can share, I'm all up for the sharing thing" said Buffy with hope.

"No B, we can't. We're not even supposed to exist at the same time, let alone be together at the same place."

"But—"

Faith looked at her bus and saw that they were almost leaving, she had to hurry.

"Look B, it's got nothing to do with you, it's all me. I came here to ask for your help, and you did. We killed that son of a bitch and now it's time for me to move on with my life. You really taught me a lot of things B."

Buffy still looked apprehensive and she wanted Faith to stay with her. She did not feel so alone when the young brunette was with her. The only person that could understand her was Faith.

"Faith…"

"B, I really gotta go now. Xander and Red have my e-mail, so feel free to contact me as much as you want. If you ever need me, I'm just a click away alright?"

Faith gripped onto Buffy's hand and ran to the bus just as they were going to leave. The driver was not too happy, but she still got on. Buffy watched the bus disappear from her sight and felt the lingering warmth of Faith's hand drift away just like she let Faith leave her. A heavy sigh, and Buffy wrapped her jacket tighter around herself to defend against the cold air around her. She felt a piece of her missing when Faith left.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Pacing back and forth on the pavement, Faith nervously kept looking over her shoulder to the house next to her while she wrung her fingers and threw her arms down onto her sides. Exhaling a breath in frustration, Faith quickly walked up the pathway to the large two-story home and stood in front of the heavy French doors. Grabbing onto the set of keys on her side, she pulled out a chained wallet and thumbed throw the numerous keys to find the right one. Finally settling onto a silver one, she held it between her thumb and index finger. With one last burst of courage, Faith slid the key into the lock and turned it. Hearing the click of the bolt, she opened the door and walked inside into the dark hallway.

"Home sweet home" she whispered into the darkness.

Running her hand along the banister, the brunette stealthily made her way up the stairs in her heavy boots. She peered through the open doors with a small smile on her face, her mind was awake with recognition and memories as she slowly crept along the corridor.

_**-Flashback –**_

A young Faith carried the same duffel bag with tears swimming in her eyes as she stomped her way down the same corridor. She desperately kept herself from crying, she knew what she had to do and was not going to let anyone stop her. A skinny boy with dark brown hair ran down the hall after her, tugging at her elbow to try and stop the teenager.

"Wait, you can't just leave like this!" he screamed.

"I have to!" she yelled back, "You don't understand."

Harshly tugging her arm free, she hurried down the hallway while the boy pursued her. He was right behind her, closely following her and trying to convince her to stay.

"Where are you even going to go? I know mom and dad aren't the greatest parents, but that's not –"

Faith abruptly stopped, making the boy run right into her back. The boy smiled brightly, thinking that she would not leave now. In a monotone voice, Faith said, "Good bye Cliff."

Without another word, Faith opened the door and stepped out of her old life. Running down the pathway, she met up with a middle-aged woman with blonde hair. The woman wordlessly opened the trunk and Faith threw down her duffel bag in it. She glanced once more at her house and saw Cliff standing outside, his eyes conveying his sorrow to her. Gulping the lump in her throat, Faith climbed into the passenger seat and never once looked back.

-_**End Flashback**_-

Shaking her head from the memory, she continued walking. Stopping in front of one room, she took one deep breath and slightly pushed door that was ajar. She halted midway into the room when she saw a figure on her bed. Her eyes watered and she sniffed a bit. The figure was holding a picture frame and was staring at it intently until she sniffed.

"No…" he whispered, "Are you…"

He dropped the picture and immediately ran over to her, hugging her as tightly as he could and she did the same to him.

"You're back" he simply said.

She just nodded her head and let herself go in the warm embrace. Tears flowing freely between them, the two were so absorbed in their reunion that they did not hear two sets of footsteps near them. They only separated when they heard someone gasp, "Oh my God…". Turning around, Faith wiped her tears and looked at the two shocked people in front of her.

"Mom…dad" she whispered.

Her mother ran over to her and pulled her into a big bear hug, her father followed shortly after. Repeating the words, "You're back" into her daughter's ear, she was shaking from all the emotions coursing through her. Finally they broke up the hug after a long time and all of them were trying to compose themselves. When they did, the family found themselves in the large living room. Now that the joy of Faith being back was over, they wanted answers of where she disappeared to all this time.

"Before you guys grill me, I just…I'm sorry. I know it doesn't make up for any pain that I've caused, but I'm so sorry for running away."

Placing a gentle hand on Faith, her mother smiled sadly at her daughter.

"As long as you're back, and you don't do this ever again…I forgive you."

Cliff leaned forward on his arms and stared right at his sister, unsure of what to do about this situation. He was ecstatic that she was back, but he was afraid that she would just up and leave again.

"What made you come back? Where have you been for the last year?"

She looked down on the ground and swallowed another enormous lump in her throat. She wanted to tell them the truth, and her calling, but they would never believe her, maybe Cliff but not her parents. She rubbed her hands together and looked at all of them.

"I was… on the other side of LA for awhile and… just I couldn't take it anymore. My priorities weren't straight, and I missed my family."

A few more grilling questions and fabricated stories later, she returned to her room. Everything was exactly the same as she left it, except the picture on the floor. She bent down and scooped it up in hand before she stared at the picture in it. In there, was her brother and her after she had won a medal in gymnastics. They were both so happy then, before she found out about herself and her destiny. Putting the frame back in the right place, she sat down on the bed and looked around the room, absorbing the details with a small happy smile. She looked over at the doorway and saw her brother standing there with his arms crossed. He went in and closed the door with a stern face.

"I know you were lying back there and I want to know the truth. Why did you really run away?" he asked, "And don't lie to me, I'll know if you do."

Wringing her hands again, Faith looked away from his hard gaze. She ran her fingers through her wavy hair and looked straight back at him.

"I don't think you'll believe me."

Cliff sat right next to her on the bed and wrapped his hand around her shoulders, giving her a brotherly hug.

"Just tell me what's going on."

Staring at him with a stern gaze, she asked, "What do you know about vampires?"

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Swinging her legs on the library table, Buffy was staring at the doors, her eyes never wavering from the same spot that she had been staring at for more than an hour. Xander and Willow were at a loss of what to do, Buffy had been doing that for a whole week ever since Faith left. They were supposed to be researching about the Mayor's Ascension, but Buffy did not have the heart to do anything. The doors were pushed open and Buffy immediately looked over, a hopeful smile gracing her face, but it immediately turned into a frown when she saw that the brunette who entered was just Cordelia. Even though Buffy was not delighted to see her, Xander was. The geeky boy nearly knocked over his chair to run over to the girl.

"Cordelia! So nice to see you here."

The brunette immediately donned on an expression of disgust while she rolled her eyes and stalked over to Giles with an arm full of books. Slightly hurt by Cordelia's attitude and rejection, the boy cowered back to his seat next to Willow and stared at the text in front of him. Buffy had hoped that sooner or later, Faith would be waltzing back through those doors with her cocky smirk and even her innuendos that she terribly missed. Everyone thought that Buffy was just acting so strangely because of Angel. She had recently broken up with him when she realized that the odds were against them, and her love for him was not love at all, but a high school fairy tale crush. Angel had agreed to help them until they stopped the ascension and he would move to LA to stay away from Buffy.

The blonde jumped off the table and grabbed her bag. She wanted to get out of this place since all she could think about was Faith.

"I'm just going to go patrol right now" said Buffy.

"But it's still light out" said Willow.

Quoting Faith, Buffy replied, "Good for us, bad for them".

Willow shook her head lightly, feeling miserable that she could not help her best friend out. Turning on her laptop, the redhead proceeded to write to Faith. They had been talking to each other every day and she updated the brunette about the demon activity as well as what happened in her life. Even if Faith would make sarcastic comments and many sexual innuendos back at her, Faith still cared and tried to help the redhead as much as she could. Now Willow was venting about how useless she felt around Buffy because she could not help Buffy after she broke up with Angel. Willow had no idea how much it hurt for Faith to read about the ex-couple, but Faith would never complain. While she wrote about her problems, she even told her about the new big bad in town and asked for her advice. Quickly sending the e-mail, the redhead went back to researching with Giles and fell asleep right in the school library. Near dawn, her inbox showed one new message, one that would help them defeat the Mayor.

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**Several Months Later**

Expertly twirling around a stake in her hand, Faith walked around the dark alley's in LA, hoping to find some vampires to dust. Without as many cemeteries in LA as in Sunnydale, it was harder for her to camp out and wait for them to rise. Now the brunette had to play innocent girl walking around at night to lure them out. Ever since the brunette had gone back home, her demeanor was changing back into who she was before she was called. She still had the hard edge but no longer dressed to impress. Whistling in the dark alley, she patiently waited for a vampire to attack her while her voice bounced off the buildings around her. Cursing her heightened senses when she passed by a roll of garbage cans, Faith walked slightly faster to get out of the vicinity of waste around her. Her heavy combat boots thumped on the asphalt as she grew nearer to the end of her patrol. The brunette quickly dusted the straggling vampires as they tried to run away from pending dawn. This city was too easy yet too hard for the young slayer. The vampires acted differently here, they were not all about maiming and killing everyone, even though that was a huge factor in it, rather they liked climbing up the social ladder. Something that Faith did not have the expertise in dealing with. Rather she left that to Angel while she was the muscle.

-_**Flash back**_ –

Stalking a well-dressed business man leading a woman wearing a ball gown out into the dark parking lot, Faith fingered the stake in her jacket and clung to the shadows, waiting for the vampire to show its true demonic form. Patience was never part of the brunette's assets, so she was about to rush out and dust the vampire before they took off in the car but then she stopped when the woman caught her eye. Her steps wavered and before she knew it the couple left the parking lot while she just stood there.

"Crap" she hissed.

Running after the car, Faith memorized the license plates number before she expertly hot-wired a car outside. As she tried to tail the car, there was one question running through her head. Why was Queen C in Los Angeles?

Pressing on the gas pedal, the brunette gained speed to catch up to the car that was driving to a semi-deserted rich neighborhood. There were no other houses for at least another mile both ways. A nice hideout if anyone ever tried looking for help. She parked her stolen car further away from the mansion, just in case there were any cameras around the outside of the gates. Hurrying on foot to the enormous iron gates, Faith once again stopped when she saw another familiar face. Blinking in confusion, the brunette actually tried to stifle the giggles that threatened to ruin her bad girl image. In front of her was none other than an Angel wearing a ridiculous Hawaiian shirt. She saw him punch out the security guard in the booth and pull out the wire in the security camera before he started to talk to someone she hadn't met before.

"Hey Soulboy, fancy seeing you here."

They both turned around and Angel stared wide-eyed at her while the other man looked at them both. He looked back at Faith then at Angel, they were both not talking anymore.

"So I take it you know this girl right Angel?" said the man in an accent.

"Name's Faith, the vampire slayer, and you are?"

"Doyle, Power's that Be appointed seer. You're the other slayer?" he asked.

Faith rolled her eyes and stared at him while she slowly walked towards them.

"Why do they always refer to me as that? I'm as much a Slayer as she is."

"Faith, what are you doing here?"

"Probably the same reason why you're here. Just saw a vamp take Queen C back there, as much as I don't like her, I kinda don't want her dead."

Angel quickly took off his colorful shirt to reveal his usual black sweater and took out a backpack from the backseat. Turning to Doyle he said, "I'm out in 10 minutes or I'm not coming out." Both Faith and Angel shared a look and conveyed their meaning to one another; they were going to team up to get to Cordelia. The slayer and vampire jumped up the stone wall in one leap and crossed the garden without ever being noticed. When they got to the mansion, Angel said, "I'm going to take out the power, find Cordelia."

Nodding once Faith scaled the walls and jumped onto the second floor balcony and Angel placed a fuse into the electrical box and timed it for 30 seconds. Angel went to the other side and used a grappling hook to get there faster to meet up with the slayer. Even though they were at opposite ends, the two could hear Cordelia's screams and they knew where to go now. Faith stood at the end of the hallway while Angel stood in the other, when the electricity blew out, the other vampire stopped hunting Cordelia. He craned his neck around to see what had happened, but then Angel's voice floated from the darkness.

"Russell Winters."

Cordelia pushed the shocked vampire aside and whispered, "Angel?".

Appearing out of the shadows, Angel calmly strode towards them.

"I have a message from Tina" he continued.

The other vampire glared at whoever dared intrude on his dinner.

"You're making a very big mistake" said the ignorant vampire.

Coming out of the other end, Faith walked at the same pace that Angel did.

"You're the one who's made a big mistake" said Faith.

Cordelia looked from Faith to Angel, a huge smiling covering her face when she realized that she would not die tonight. The vampire called Russell nervously glanced from Angel to Faith, not sure what to do now. All he did was growl at them both.

"You don't know who they are do you?" asked Cordelia with a smirk, "Oh boy you're about to get your ass kicked."

Angel lunged at Russell while Faith had to take care of the bodyguards that rushed up. It looked as if Angel had the upperhand, Russell could barely keep up with the strength and speed that Angel had. It stayed that way until Angel tripped and fell, Russell advanced cautiously at him. Faith was having a hard time herself, more bodyguards appeared to replace the ones she knocked out, and it was getting very annoying for the slayer. She hated that she could not stake them, Russell did well to hire human bodyguards. It wasn't until they pulled out guns did Faith know it was a bad idea now to take them on.

"Angel!" screamed Faith.

The brunette quickly knocked another bodyguard into the others to stall them for a moment. Rushing over to Cordelia, Faith took her in her arms and jumped down to the first floor as Angel took some of the bullets that were aimed at them.

"Faith!" screamed Cordelia when she thought she was going to die.

When Angel fell down next to them, Faith quickly took him under her arm and led them out the door as Cordelia held onto his other side. They all boarded into Angel's car while Doyle drove away from the mayhem they started.

Doyle and Faith helped take out the bullets from Angel while Cordelia tried to keep her lunch down. Taping on the last gauze, Cordelia went back to them and asked, "He's not going to come after me right? You guys put the fear of God in him…he's not going to…right?"

Faith and Angel shared another look but this time Faith was a bit angry. Angel sent Doyle and Cordelia away, leaving the slayer with him. The brunette glared at the vampire but refrained from punching him out just yet.

"Faith, things work differently here."

"Yea and how long have you been here Soulboy? I know this city better than you do and—"

"Faith you're getting noticed around here."

"Yea, that's a good thing, keeps the demons and vamps in check now that they know a slayer is here."

"Faith, things do work differently here, the demons and vampires don't just attack you. They go after you're family."

"I can take them Angel."

"They don't always attack with force Faith, there are other ways to ruin people here. You know that."

"So what are you saying? I should let that bastard get away even after he tried to make Cordy dinner?"

"No, not at all. I'm asking you to let me handle it."

Faith was about to protest again, but Angel stared her down and the brunette sighed in defeat.

"Fine, but if anything happens, I'm going after him myself."

"Thank you Faith."

_**-End Flashback**_-

As Faith neared her large home, she immediately stopped on the sidewalk and rolled her shoulders before looking to her side at a large tree.

"Cliff, you really suck at hiding."

"I do not!" protested her older brother, "You just have those super senses now and it's so not fair."

"Cliff, come on, you shouldn't be out here."

"And you should?"

"It's my job."

"No, a job is flipping hamburgers at the nearest fast food place, this is not a job Miss, this is suicide."

Cliff stood right in front of her and looked at her with brotherly concern, he really did not like the fact that his little sister risked her life every night for her so-called calling.

"Cliff, you know how it is. Don't worry about me alright? I can handle it."

"Miss don't… I'm always going to worry about you. You're my favorite sister, and I don't want to lose you again."

"You're not. And I'm your only sister Cliff."

"And that makes you my favorite."

Rolling her eyes, the brunette bumped shoulders with him and they both walked back to their home and away from the terrors of the night. They lightly opened the door and snuck in, careful to not wake their parents. In their large home, several boxes were littered around the living room and there was hardly any furniture left anywhere except for the beds.

"We're leaving tomorrow right?" asked Faith.

"Yep…San Diego here we come."

"Just when I come back home we leave."

"Missy it's just their work, again."

"Still sucks. They don't even have a gymnastics team at that Ranch place."

"Such as life."

Cliff patted her on the back and slung his arm over her shoulder and lead her up the stairs to their respective rooms.

"Well you could always be a cheerleader" he said sarcastically, "Night Miss."

"Night Cliff."

Faith fell onto her unmade bed and did not even bother to change into pajamas, she was too tired today from all the packing. Pulling the soft covers over her body, the brunette snuggled into her pillow and sighed deeply.

"Cheerleading? That'll be my last resort" she mumbled before falling asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

After dropping off all of her things in the dormitory, Buffy helped Willow move into her own room and was now going back to her own room. Opening the door, Buffy nervously entered her new room and saw her new roommate.

"Hi" greeted Buffy.

The woman with short brown hair stopped folding her clothes on the bed and merrily replied, "Hi! Are you Buffy?".

Going to her side of the room, Buffy dropped off her books on the desk. "Yea."

The brunette gave her a small wave, "Kathy."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you."

"Yea" she said with another smile.

Buffy walked to her twin bed and sat down, facing Kathy. "So" she began awkwardly, "it's a pretty nice room huh?"

"Mmm, I was surprised, cause you hear horror stories about freshmen housing" she stopped folding her clothes and pointed at Buffy's bed, "You took the right side."

Buffy looked around her, "Y-yea…but if you wanted—"

"Oh no no" she interrupted, "I just wanted to make sure that's what you wanted. You excited for classes tomorrow?"

"Painfully" she deadpanned.

Kathy began unpacking another suitcase while Buffy sat still on her bed. "I bet there's gonna be a lot of parties to go to" said Kathy, "Not that I'm a crazy partier. And I'm not always this hyper, I'm just…excited. I'm glad they put me with someone cool, cause I can tell you're cool. This year is going to be super fun!"

Buffy stared blankly at Kathy and gave her a forced smile, "Yea…"

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At nightfall, Buffy opted to not go slaying tonight, just in case she wound up lost again. She wanted to get some quality sleep before starting classes tomorrow. Tossing and turning in her new bed, Buffy tried to get into a comfortable position, but whatever she did was futile. A few feet from her own bed, Kathy's snores and tiny whimpers prevented the blonde girl from even dozing off. She glanced at her roommate, but there was not anything she could do. Moving to her side, Buffy smashed her pillow to her ears, hoping to drown out the noises.

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The next day, Willow and Buffy got together to go to class. Pushing their way into the throngs of people in the small hallway, Willow and Buffy fought the crowd into the massive lecture hall. The pair stopped their conversations for a moment to look for an empty seat before all 300 seats were full. Willow caught two empty seats and gestured her head into that direction before pulling Buffy along. Before the two could get settled, the doors swung open to reveal their professor rushing in to the front of the classroom.

"Okay this is Psych 101, introduction to Psychology" said the Professor as she breezed by the front of the room, "I am Professor Walsh. Those of you who fall into my good graces will know me as Maggie; those of you who don't will come to know me by the name my TA's use and think I don't know about" she continued, her arms crossing over her chest as she leaned back against the podium, "the evil bitch monster of death."

A few small chuckles emanated in the lecture hall, but Buffy was staring at the woman with wide eyes, afraid of her new professor. Willow's eyes sparkled at the new challenge and lightly nudged Buffy with her new excitement.

"Make no mistake, I run a hard class, I assign a lot of work, I talk fast and I expect you to keep up. If you are looking to coast, I recommend Geology 101. That's where all the football players are."

Buffy started to frown and slumped down into her seat as her hopes died for this class too. It was only her first day and she already felt so lost. _I am so hating college now_ thought Buffy. Buffy groaned internally, looking up at the clock as the seconds ticked, she wanted class to end so badly. _30 minutes more…God I hate class already…_

Professor Walsh dismissed class a bit earlier since it was only the first day of class, and almost everyone, minus Willow silently cheered. Slinging their bags over their shoulders, Buffy and Willow walked out the class.

"So have you met your roommate yet?" asked Willow.

"Yea…she seemed, interesting."

"Oh that's good. I hope you two can get along. I haven't met mine yet, really hoping that she isn't…you know too religious or something. Don't want to get burned at the stake, again."

"Don't worry about that Willow. I'm sure that won't happen…I'll make sure that doesn't happen."

"Aw, thanks Buffy" said Willow with a soft smile. The redhead glanced down at her watch and quickly checked her schedule. "Oh shoot, I almost forgot. I have Chem…like now. I'll see you later Buffy!" With a pat on the blonde's shoulder, the redhead ran off across campus, leaving Buffy to stare at the place she had once occupied.

"Okay, that was…" Buffy shook her head and took out the map of the campus from her bag. Her eyebrows knitted in concentration while she kept turning the map in her hands and looking around her. "Where…am I?" she mumbled to herself. "I don't need a map. I'm a slayer! I can…use my instincts and fine my way to the dorms" she murmured. A confident nod of her head and Buffy took off…in the opposite direction of the dormitories.

Several hours later, the petite blonde looked up at a building to search for the name. _Finally! Stevenson Hall!_. She released a breath in relief and stomped her way into the building. Clutching another piece of paper with her room details she meticulously searched her room number on the heavy wooden doors. _If this isn't the right floor, I'm going to slay something!_ Buffy thought angrily. _I've already been here once, why can't I find my way? This sucks._

- X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X – X

A few hundred miles over, her fellow brunette slayer was fairing just as well as she was. Her trademark leather and caked make up were forfeited for a more conservative look. Since her parent's business had soared, they were now upper-middle class and lived in the "rich" side of town. Faith slung her black backpack on one shoulder and shoved her way through the hoards of students in the hallway. _I hate high school._

Faith sat in the small cramped chair in her fourth period class. Instead of listening to her teacher lecture about the Constitution, Faith took out a black pen and started to draw a design across her upper arm. She looked over at her unblemished right arm and frowned lightly. _I wish I got a real tattoo…not that henna crap. Once I turn 18…_She continued to doodle on her arm until the bell rang for class to end, and she happily gathered her things to go to lunch. Casting glares at anyone who stood in her way, Faith trudged down the hallway and suddenly stopped. She turned towards the bulletin board and tore off the flyer.

**Cheerleading Tryouts**

"Am I really that desperate?" she mumbled. Shaking her head, the brunette started walking down the hall again, but stopped in her tracks. "I've gone insane…" she whispered. Turning back on her heels, the brunette entered the office and filled out one of the applications. _This is just cause there's no gymnastics team. This is my last resort. Only that. God I am not turning into Buffy!_

She checked where the tryouts were held and stuffed her belongings into her locker and slammed it shut. Stomping her way to the gym, Faith just kept going over how this was only a replacement for gymnastics, nothing more.

Bursting into the gym, Faith walked to the cheerleaders, her keys and chain jangling on her pants. She narrowed her eyes at one of the bitchy cheerleaders and rolled her eyes.

The Asian cheerleader whispered over to her blonde peer, "Excuse me, where'd you park your Harley?"

_Gotta love slayer hearing…bitch. I wish I had a Harley._

The blonde cheerleader took a look at her left arm and smirked.

"Tattoos are strictly forbidden. Sorry" she said with a fake smile.

Faith grinned in reply and stuck out her middle finger, she licked her finger and wiped a part of it off. "I got bored during fourth period." It wiped the smirk off the blonde but the Asian one did not let up. "You need to fill one of these out" she condescendingly said. Faith pulled out the application out of her back pocket and flashed it in front of them. "Did it." Giving it to a brunette who had her hand stretched out, Faith walked back while the brunette checked her form.

"Missy is it?" she haughtily said, "Before we start, I'm afraid we're going to make sure you can do a standing back tuck. Standard procedure, you understand."

Pulling off her keys and wallet, Faith dropped it on the floor. "Standing back handspring back hand tuck okay?"

Seeing a nod from the brunette, Faith expertly executed the moves to the awe of the other cheerleaders. The Asian one looked at her and shook her head. "Where's this girl from? Romania?"

"Can she yell?" asked the blonde one.

Another blonde who looked like the captain interrupted, "We'll try it" raising her arms in the air she said in a very cheery voice, "Awesome, oh wow, like totally freak me out I mean right on. Toros sure are number one."

Faith pressed her lips together and smiled to them. She yelled out in her fake cheering voice, "I transferred from Los Angeles, your school has no gymnastics team, this IS a last resort" she ended with her hands clapping together. All the smiles were wiped off and they all stared at her.

"Okay, so I've never cheered before, so what?. How about something that actually requires neurons?"

The blonde mumbled to the Asian, "Do it."

"Front handspring, step out, round off, back handspring, step out, round off, back handspring, full twisting lay out."

Shaking her head, Faith walked to the back of the gym and again did the moves flawlessly. She turned around with a smile that said, now what? All the members except for the blonde and the Asian were impressed with her moves and excitedly chattered amongst themselves. The captain had a huge smile on her face, "Miss is bank."

The other blonde quickly interrupted her, "Uh huh, bankrupt! We've already so decided on Jamie."

The captain looked at her and said, "Courtney this is not a democracy. It's a cheerocracy. I'm sorry, but I'm overruling you."

Courtney angrily stood up and yelled, "You are being a cheertator Torrance and a pain in my ass! We already voted. Besides, Missy looks like an Uber Dyke."

Faith glared at the two girls and grabbed her keys off the ground. _I do not need this. Fuck I wish I could beat them._ Instead she stored that anger and stormed out of the gym. Back in her home, she stomped upstairs to her room and threw her backpack on the bed. Her brother peered inside her room and crossed his arms over his chest.

"So what pissed you off today?"

She just looked at him and started to rearrange her room in a blur while mumbling, "Stupid evil cheerleaders."

Cliff's jaw dropped and he started laughing hysterically at his younger sister. "You tried out? You tried out for cheerleading? CHEERLEADING?!"

"SHUT UP!" she said, then threw a pillow at him.

"I'm sorry…" he said through his gasps. She threw another pillow at him, but before she could throw anything that was hard, he ran out of her room and into the refuge of his own room. Mumbling about how cheerleaders were bitches, the doorbell rang and she yelled at Cliff to get it. A few minutes later, she heard a familiar voice from her enhanced hearing and she quickly came down the stairs. As she got near the door, she clearly heard her brother say, "…is her drug dependency going to be a problem?"

Showing herself in the open doorway, she glared at her brother. "Cliff shut up." Crossing her arms she looked at Torrance, "what do you want?".

"I want you on the squad."

Shifting in her place, the brunette scoffed.

"You're the best, they know it! They just reject the unfamiliar."

"Thanks but no thanks, I mean I plead temporary insanity. See I'm a hardcore gymnast and no way is jumping up and down screaming 'GO team GO!' is going to satisfy me."

"Look, we're teams too. Just no bars, no beams and no vault."

"Sorry" she shook her head, "not interested." She went to shut the door, but her brother blocked her way.

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

"Nothing…I just uhh, thought that it was interesting to hear Torrance's point of view."

Glancing at the blonde, she looked back at him, "how do you even know her?"

"We're old friends."

Torrance just nodded slightly at him, grateful that he bought her some time. "Ever been to a cheerleading competition?" she asked.

"Oh you mean a football game?" asked Faith.

"No, not a game. Those are like practices for us. I'm talking about a tournament, ESPN cameras all around, hundreds of people in the crowd cheering."

Cliff just opened his mouth and said, "Wait, people cheering...cheerleaders?" he asked in a doubtful tone.

"That's right" Torrance replied, "lots of people. Here's the deal Missy, we're the shit, the best. We have fun, work hard and we win National Championships. I'm offering you a chance to be a part of that."

Faith licked her lips and really started to think about it, but her brother interrupted her train of thought.

"Think about it Miss, I mean you get to wear sassy outfits you get to yell like you care about something!" he said sarcastically.

She just rolled her eyes at him and didn't pay him any attention.

"She's not the cheering type" he said with a laugh.

Making up her mind, Faith looked at them both, "You know what…count me in."

– X – X – X – X– X – X – X – X - X – X – X– X – X –

In UC Sunnydale at her new dorm room, Willow was enthusiastically chatting with Faith via webcam, relaying her life to the brunette.

"And you would never guess what happened Faith, Buffy's roommate was a demon!"

Faith's jaw dropped in shock and she leaned closer to the camera. "You're shitting me right?"

Shaking her head, Willow smiled at her. "Nope, 100% demon."

"Buffy sure knows how to attract them."

"I know! And- and, all of her stuff was taken by vampires!"

"What do you mean?" asked Faith.

"Well, Buffy ran into a group of vampires on campus, and they took the student's stuff after they drained them."

"Oh…well she got the fuckers right?"

"Of course! It's Buffy, she always gets the bad guys. And she only let down her guard cause…well she wasn't adjusting that well" said Willow with a hint of guilt.

"Really? Thought she would be all over that. B should learn how to find the fun."

"Uhhm…" began Willow with a sad face, "She tried…but I don't think she's going to be finding the fun anytime soon."

"Red, what happened?" asked Faith, she was very concerned for her sister slayer's well-being.

Leaning in closer to the webcam, Willow nervously looked around her for signs of Buffy. "There was this jerk named Parker Abrahms, and he tricked Buffy! After they…well…you know, he just wanted nothing to do with her! And…apparently he does that to a lot of girls!"

Faith just stared at the monitor and rapidly blinked her eyes. Slowly taking in breath, she tried to calm her anger.

"Well…I'M GONNA KILL THAT MOTHER FUCKER!" she yelled.

Willow nearly leapt out of her chair when she heard the ferocity of Faith's anger.

"F-Faith?" said Willow nervously.

"Don't worry Red, by the time I'm done with him. He ain't gonna even be able to look at another girl."

"Faith, don't do anything reckless."

"Oh don't worry, I ain't. This is going to be carefully planned out. I'll just jump in the car and be there in like a 2 hours."

Willow's eyebrows knitted in confusion and she looked at Faith again.

"Wait, Faith where are you? I thought you were out of the state."

Faith looked liked she got caught with her hand in the cookie jar, and she started to stutter just like Willow.

"Uhhm…well, I-I…uhhm… you see…"

"Faith LeHane!" hissed Willow, "You see this?" she gestured to her face, "This is called the resolve face. So you tell me the truth right now young lady!"

Faith recoiled a little and smiled shyly at the redhead.

"San Diego…I'm…kinda going to school here. Don't tell B!"

Willow disregarded the last part and smiled brightly at the young brunette.

"You're going to school? That's great! Where do you go? Wait…what grade are you in?"

Faith ran her hands down her face and whimpered, "Oh God…fuck. Okay I'm going to Rancho Carne and I'm a junior."

"Rancho Carne? Weird name…aww…you're a cute junior!"

"Red…shut it."

Before Willow could tease the brunette further, she heard a key being inserted into the lock and she looked at Faith.

"Oh Buffy's back."

Looking at the camera nervously, Faith hissed out," Shit! Okay don't tell her about me alright Red?"

"Why not?"

"Just don't! And if ya do…I'm going to tell Buffy about the time you ate all her non-fat yogurt after patrol!"

"No!" shouted Willow, "She'll make me buy her a year worth of them and you know how she is after slaying, I can't afford it."

"Well then…I'll keep your secret, you keep mine" Faith said slyly.

"You drive a hard bargain…but fine."

Buffy entered into the room and smiled at her roommate.

"Hey Willow, whatcha up to?"

"Nothing, just talking to Faith."

Hearing Faith's name, the blonde perked up and went behind Willow.

"Faith!" she said with a huge smile, "How are you?"

"I'm quite fine blondie. And you? How's it being a college student?"

"Oh you know, same old same old. Just a lot more freedom…not a lot of homework, but a ton of studying to do on top of the slaying. Where are you?"

"Uhhm…around. Not really sure right now."

"Oh…"

Buffy looked at the fuzzy screen and looked at the things behind Faith. She noticed it was a well furnished room, not like a motel. _I guess she's using someone's room after she got some…oh no bad image. But wait, that's a girls room…did Faith with a girl? Faith likes girls? Faith has sex with girls? Ohhh…really really bad image. I wonder how girls have…NO!_ _Not going to imagine Faith with a female…having naked sweaty lesbian sex…_

While Buffy was in her daydream about Faith having sweaty girl on girl sex, she was only brought back when Willow shut her laptop.

"Huh?" asked Buffy, "What happened to Faith?"

"Oh she had to go do her home—she had to go slay."

Buffy looked at the bright sun outside and then back at Willow who was shifting uncomfortably under her scrutiny.

"It's daylight. She's going slaying?"

"W-well, you know how Faith is. She just loves her slaying."

"Right…" said Buffy, "I'm watching you Willow Rosenberg."

"Have fun watching Buffy Anne Summers. I have nothing to hide" said Willow with a definite nod of her head.

Buffy squinted her eyes at her but smiled after a few seconds.

"I will figure out what you are hiding. Mark my words."

"Marking them with some post its and on the board right now."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Missy/Eliza Dushku rant in cheerleading try outs (From movie Bring It On –I just really like the way she said it.) :

http://www._you __tube._com/

watch?v=zYB1zlz7RO0

take out the _ or just copy and past the watch part.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:**

Bring It On clips (Watch when I cue! It just gives you a visual of what she does, and she's so sexy doing it)

**Take out underscores to watch!**

Video Number 1: http://www._youtube._com_/watch?v=RUzl1HoxAbM

Video Number 2: http://www._youtube._com_/watch?v=mS3gZDtk6k0

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 4**

"Come on Willow!" squealed the teenager, "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease..." she pleaded in the sweetest voice possible.

The redhead adamantly shook her head and crossed her arms in finality. The young brunette immediately started her practiced pout and even her eyes were starting to glisten with unshed tears just to try and guilt the redhead. Willow tried to keep a straight face and ignore the teenager who was desperate to get her way, but it failed. Throwing her arms in the air in defeat, Willow sighed, "Fine, but you cannot tell anyone about this. Not Buffy, not Giles, not Xander and most importantly not Faith!".

"Yay!" squeaked Dawn, "I just miss her so much and every time I'm at home, I don't have a webcam to talk to her with…Plus Buffy always hovers around us. We can't say anything without her overhearing!" she muttered with disdain about her sister.

Willow soothingly petted the brunette's arm, "She just worries about you Dawnie, and she doesn't want you to start saying 'Five by Five' or 'Wicked' or any other Faithisms."

"I don't!" stomped the young teen. Giving a stern gaze at the girl, Willow lifted one eyebrow up at her. "Okay fine," said Dawn with an eye roll, "I do…sometimes…but that's only cause I once again miss her. So can we do it now?"

"Not right now, Buffy is going to be here soon. We can do it when she patrols okay?"

"Okay!"

"Mom? Dawnie?" said Buffy as she opened the front door and crossed the threshold into her home. The blonde went straight into the living room, where she saw Willow avoiding her eyes and Dawn who looked much too happy and hyper.

"Hey Buffy!" shouted Dawn. She ran to her sister and gave her a big hug, squeezing her extra hard. "Mom's shopping right now, she's making lasagna for dinner."

"Mmhmm" mumbled Buffy. She gave her sister a quick squeeze and lightly pushed her younger sister to arm's length. "Do I have to ask what you took from my closet?"

Dawn rolled her eyes at her sister and folded her arms over her chest. "I didn't take anything…this time. I promise!" she shouted when Buffy gave her a skeptical look.

"Right…that's why you are so affectionate today. If you return it now, I won't even know you took it." Buffy stretched out her hand and waited for Dawn to give something back to her.

"What's wrong with being affectionate to my older sister? Do you want me to be an annoying brat? Cause I could, I'm just really glad to see you."

"Dawn, you're always an annoying brat. And that last part just made me very suspicious. What are you up to?"

Willow immediately stood up to defend Dawn, just in case Buffy grilled her too much and ended up knowing what they were going to do. "Nothing Buffy! S-She's actually really glad to see you, I mean you've been gone for so long, a couple of weeks no word. They don't know if you're dead or alive and you never call. There's so much mail here piled up that Mrs. Summers had to get a box and then there's your boyfriend that you have yet to introduce to them and a whole lot of your life that they don't know about since you're never here and – I should stop now before I dig myself a bigger hole."

At Willow's revelation that she has hardly been home to her family, Buffy visibly wilted and hugged her sister tightly. "I'm sorry Dawnie, I can't make many excuses, but I'll be sure to come home more often okay? Don't think I didn't miss you."

"O-okay Buffy…" said Dawn, a little freaked out.

"Dawnie, you need me to tutor you right?" asked Willow, her eyebrows shooting up to the top of her forehead to signal Dawn.

Nodding slowly, Dawn got the message, "Y-yea…tutoring. I need…help with Biology. I don't get…uhh…Krebs Cycle. Is there a difference between the Calvin Cycle and Krebs Cycle?"

"Yes there is! You _have_ to know the difference. Come on, we have HOURS of studying to do."

Dawn and Willow practically leapt up the stairs to Dawn's room, leaving behind a slightly baffled Buffy.

"I thought she was taking Chem this year…" said Buffy to the empty room.

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Willow and Dawn leaned against the closed door, both releasing a sigh of relief at the sanctuary of the teenager's room. Looking intently at the younger girl, Willow said, "Oh Goddess, that was close! Do you think Buffy noticed? She didn't right? She can't have noticed, if she did we can't do this. She'll kill us! Quick Dawnie we have to hide! I'll hide out in Tara's place, you go to Gile's and we have to make a cover story!"

Dawn grabbed Willow by the shoulders and looked straight at the nervous Wicca. "Willow, look at me. Breathe."

Inhaling a large breath of air, Willow exhaled and started to calm her nerves. "Breathing…check. But still panicking."

"I'm sure Buffy didn't notice anything. And even if she did, I don't think she'll know what we're going to do, and we're not hurting anyone, so it's not a big deal."

"Uh huh…not a big deal, Buffy isn't going to kill us. Right? Cause the mad slayer, with the stabbing and the stakes and the whole super strength that could break me in half, not so appealing"

"Willow, she's not going to do anything to you…if anything she's going to tell mom and I'll be grounded. So I have the worst deal in here."

The redhead smiled brightly at the brunette after hearing the explanation. "That's right, Buffy will just be angry at you."

"Thanks Willow…" Dawn deadpanned. "So what's going on with Faith anyways? She barely has time to talk to us anymore."

"I'm not sure, she comes back pretty late and then she goes patrolling. She looks really tired these days."

"What does she do though? I mean, she doesn't go to school so what does she do all day?"

"Oh…uhhm…"

Willows eyes were looking at everything but Dawn, and now Dawn knew that the redhead was hiding something. Standing in front of the redhead, Dawn tried to look at her, but Willow spun around and Dawn just followed her around. This cycle continued until Willow had to lean against the wall to steady herself.

"The room is moving…" said Willow.

"Nope, you've just been circling too much. Now spill."

"I promised Faith I wouldn't say anything."

"Willow…pleeeeease?" she said in a whiny voice and even added a pout for effect.

"Nuh uh, no way Dawnie, you've used up your pout quote for the day. No dice."

Tucking her lip back, Dawn stomped her foot in frustration but answered, "Fine…"

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Downing the last mouthfuls of water from her bottle, Faith wiped off the glistening sweat off her neck and chest with a small towel in her high school gym. She has been trying to catch up and learn all the moves to the routines these past few weeks before she could officially join them during the football games. Courtney and Whitney could not do anything to her anymore since she learned the moves so quickly and was now fit to join them on the squad. Packing up the rest of her things, Faith was about to leave and go back home until Torrance practically skipped over to her with her hands behind her back.

"Missy! Glad I caught you before you left. You've been doing really really great now and I just wanted to…"

The blonde girl quickly revealed what was behind her back and presented it to the brunette. Seeing what was in front of her, Faith grinned and took it with a gracious smile. It was her new red cheerleading uniform.

"Damn, you think I'm ready Tor?"

"Of course you are! You're totally ready for tonight's game."

"If you say so."

Torrance lightly slapped Faith's arm and in her most serious voice she said, "You learned all the routines and basically perfected them in half the time anyone else did. I'm really grateful you joined the team."

Brushing off the complement, Faith replied, "Don't sweat it Tor. Happy to join your little cheerleading gig."

"Still…thanks."

"Okay, wait shit. I don't have a ride to the game! My parents aren't going to be able to take me."

"Don't worry, Les, Jan and I carpool, we'll just swing by your place at 7."

Giving Torrance a small smile she nodded her head. "Thanks."

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Cliff paced back and forth in the hallways, occasionally glancing at his sister through the open door. After around the fifth time he did it, Faith threw down her pencil and shut her math book. She turned in her chair and glared intensely at the boy.

"Okay, what the hell are you doing?"

"What? I just like walking here, got a problem with that?" He crossed his arms over his chest and looked defiantly at her.

"Yea I got a problem with that, you keep looking at me 5 million freaking times. What's up with you?"

"Nothing…so…you're going to the football game tonight right?"

"Yea, what's it to you?"

"And Torrance is … going to be there?"

"Duh, she's the captain."

"Right…when does the game start?"

Faith rolled her eyes and opened her book again, ignoring him.

"Miss…when's the game?"

"Starts at 8. Tor's picking me up at 7."

His lips turned up into a dorky smile and he left her alone after getting his information. Faith stared at the empty doorway and just rolled her eyes again at him. _Boys. Always the same. Wait, Torrance has a boyfriend though. Damn it, well even if he does have a crush on her, as long as she doesn't go after him then it should be five by five. My life can deal without some stupid high school drama._ Finishing up the last of her homework, Faith looked at her brand new uniform and held it up as she looked at herself in the mirror. With a nod of approval, she locked her door and changed into it. She smoothed out the creases and started a little dance. Swinging her hips and shaking her cute little butt, Faith admired her fit body. _Damn I look hot._ _Got that whole cheerleading look down to boot. Now what was that thing Tor taught me?_

*Look at Video #1: http://www._youtube._com_/watch?v=RUzl1HoxAbM *

Threading her fingers through her hair, she said in her raspy and sensual voice. "I'm sexy, I'm cute, I'm popular to boot. I'm bitchin',﻿ great hair, the boys all love to stare. I'm wanted, I'm hot. I'm everything you're not."

After finishing her sexy cheer, Faith brushed her hair and clipped half of it up. Applying some make-up, she smacked her lips together. Glancing at the clock on the wall, she saw that it was a bit passed 7. At the horn honking outside, Faith grabbed her bag that had her change of clothes and went to the front door.

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"Bye Buffy! Have fun patrolling!" Dawn shut the door after waving good bye to her sister and quickly ran up the stairs to her room. The redheaded witch had just finished setting spreading the sand in a circle and looked at Dawn who rushed to her.

"Everything ready?"

"Yep, now we just ask the Goddess Isis and she'll show us the vision."

"We can see…from that glass globe thing?"

"Yep, now shhh…I have to concentrate."

Dawn sat on Indian style on the floor in front of Willow, her palms sweaty from the anticipation. She couldn't understand what Willow was mumbling in Latin, but she did see that the globe started to swirl with fog on the inside. Whatever the image was started to manifest itself and become clearer when Willow stopped chanting.

"Is that a door?" asked Dawn.

"It looks like it…that's odd. I said Faith's name and everything."

"Maybe she's on the other side of the door?"

Before Willow could answer they heard the sound of car honking and then door had inched opened.

*Watch Video #2: http://www._youtube._com_/watch?v=mS3gZDtk6k0 *

Faith's head shyly came out from the door and she stepped out. Willow and Dawn stared at the image in confusion. The two were about to comment but then hollers and cat calls cut them off. Their jaws nearly disconnected and fell to the floor when Faith grabbed the hem of her skirt and jutted her hips out; her body fluidly dancing and showing off her delicious curves. Willow subconsciously leaned forward to get a better look at Faith but her hands brushed across the sand, ending the spell. She whimpered at the loss of the image and immediately started pouting. Dawn was still trying to recover from what she had seen but she was the first one to do so. Looking at Willow, Dawn chuckled which caught the redhead's attention.

"You got…a little drool" pointed Dawn.

Willow's hands immediately flew to her mouth and wiped furiously at her face. Her face blushed a deep crimson and she hid behind her hands. Dawn was still forcing down a giggle, but she couldn't help but look at the globe again and sigh.

"She looked hot" said Dawn truthfully.

"Uh huh…I MEAN—"

"Oh don't deny it Willow, we all have eyes, and that was total hotness."

Willow nodded her head, not trusting herself to not babble nervously in front of the teen.

"Is it just me?" asked Dawn, "Or was she wearing a cheerleading uniform?"

"Nope, not just you. She was definitely wearing that revealing, sexy, red cheerleading uniform. And did that sound pervy? I think it did. Oh Goddess I'm a pedophile! She's only in high school and I'm perving on her. What's Tara going to say? What's Tara going to think? She's going to leave me when she finds out I'm a sick pervert looking at high school cheerleaders!"

At the end of Willow's rant, Dawn carefully dissected the ramblings of the panicking redhead. "Oh…my…GOD." She enunciated each word carefully, every syllable reaching a higher octave, and now her voice was almost reaching the decibel that only dogs could hear. "FAITH'S IN HIGH SCHOOL? FAITH'S A CHEERLEADER?!"

"Oh…shoot."

"Ahhh!" screeched Dawn, "That's SO cool! Plus she looks so freaking hot like that. You think I could be a cheerleader?"

"Oh no... we shouldn't have done this. Faith is going to kill us. She's going to hold a very cool knife against my throat and threaten me! I didn't even know she was a cheerleader! I only knew about her in school, but this might have crossed the line. We have to hide!"

Still on her high from knowing this new information, Dawn just smiled at the redhead. "Don't worry, no one is going to find out if we don't say anything. We have to visit her! I want to see her doing those flips and getting thrown in the air and everything else they do! Maybe she could do that dance again. Where is she going to school?"

Willow sighed in defeat, she might as well concede and tell Dawn everything. She felt like she was going to die from Faith's hand already.

"She's in San Diego, she's a junior. Should we just get it over with and let her kill us? Or should we commit suicide? I think suicide might be better, we can do it quick and painlessly. If we wait for Faith to do it, she might torture us and I don't really like the sharp painful things she can do. You know with the knives and fire and a dash of blunt."

"Faith likes us, she won't do that. I think…oh whatever, I still want to see her. Then she can teach me everything and then I'm going to try out for Sunnydale next year."

"School involvement here seems a bit risky. Remember when Buffy tried out for cheerleading? Amy's mom almost killed her…and we don't want that to happen to you."

"It won't! Cause the Scooby gang is going to swoop in and rescue me. Ugh…Buffy was in cheerleading, it suddenly doesn't sound as cool anymore. I think she's going to say I want to join it cause she was in it."

Willow ruffled the teen's hair and shot her a warm smile.

"Don't worry Dawnie, if you really want to, we'll all back you up."

"So can we go visit Faith? I really miss her…"

"We'll see. Maybe during the break or something."

"Yay!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"I had a great time Riley" Buffy lied while the pair stood awkwardly on the porch of the Summer's home.

The blonde boy nervously wrung his fingers, hoping to get the traditional good night kiss after the date. He took half a step closer to Buffy, waiting for her to initiate the first move. After a few seconds of awkward silence and staring, he chuckled slightly and took Buffy's dainty hands in his own.

"I've got to be frank with you Buffy, I haven't been on a date in awhile, but I really like you. The Espresso Pump wasn't a bit too corny was it?" he asked with a hint of fear.

"No no no, it was nice. Coffee dates are good for the first date" she quickly said, not wanting to hurt his feelings.

"Yea…" he grinned, "So, first date…is there going to be a second?"

Buffy forced a smile, "Sure…call me?"

"Of course."

She tiptoed and leaned in to kiss his cheek. Riley took it the wrong way and turned his head, making Buffy peck his lips instead of his cheek. Buffy quickly recoiled and blushed. The boy once again misinterpreted it as the girl's shyness.

"So…uh I'll see you at school?" asked Riley.

"Yea, sure. I have to go in…like now or else mom's going to come out."

"Okay."

Riley waved at her through the window of his car and Buffy mechanically waved back at him, releasing a sigh of relief when he drove off. She quickly unlocked the door and walked in, wanting to go to bed and forget the boring date as soon as possible.

_He's just too…normal, and who the heck still goes on coffee dates?_

While she thought of the mundane activities they had gone through, Buffy was interrupted from her musings when she heard Dawn's high pitched squeal in the dining room. Acting on instinct for her sister's safety, the blonde ran in and adopted a fighting stance. Searching the room for trouble, Buffy's piercing gaze wandered everywhere and landed on Dawn who cocked an eyebrow at her sister's behavior.

"Dawn…I told you not to do that!" chastised Buffy.

"Sorry, I just got excited!" she squealed again.

Buffy was about to reprimand the young Summer's again, but a slightly muffled voice came out of Willow's laptop that Dawn had borrowed.

"Oh don't be so hard on Kiddo" said Faith.

"Faith?" asked Buffy while she approached the laptop.

"The one and only" she replied, "So how was your date?"

Standing behind Dawn, she saw Faith without any makeup with her hair up in a bun as if she were about to go to sleep. She noticed that it was the same room as the last time she had talked with Faith. Narrowing her eyes at the girl, she asked, "How'd you know I was on a date?"

"Oh I have my sources…and it's a good thing you're dating again. Sorry, but the whole Angel thing? Time to move on Twinkie."

Exhaling a breath of air, the blonde just shook her head. "I know, I'm trying to get passed it." Buffy thought she would at least be a little angry at Faith for downplaying her relationship with Angel, but she realized that her love for Angel was akin to a high school crush that was hyped since their relationship was 'forbidden'.

"I'm glad B, but hopefully your rebound guy ain't horrible. So, answer my question, ya have fun B?"

Remembering her date again, Buffy grimaced as she tried to put on a fake smile for Faith. "Uhhm…yea I did. We went to get coffee at the Espresso Pump."

One of Faith's eyebrows turned up and she smirked at her sister slayer. "Seriously? The Espresso Pump? How lame is that…at least he could've taken you to a club or something. Come on B, find the fun! Stop being so vanilla."

Buffy huffed slightly and glared at Faith while Dawn was trying not to snicker at their exchange.

"Stop denying it Buffy" said Dawn, "Riley is soooo vanilla. I think watching paint dry is more exciting."

"See, little D agrees with me. You got to get some good quality 'ungh'. I'm sure slaying's got your H and H on overload now."

Scampering to cover Dawn's ears, Buffy screeched "Faith! There's a child present!"

Dawn removed her sister's hands and glared at her with menace. "I am not a child, I'm almost 15! I'm like a young adult now."

"Dawnie, you're basically a teenager, I'm a young adult."

Faith snickered at the Summer sister's exchange and tried to intercept the conversation before it became an all out sister brawl. "B, I'm sure squirt here probably heard worse at school. Hell, even **I've**learned more things now, and that's pretty hard to accomplish."

"No" said Buffy in denial, "My sister will forever be a virgin as long as I'm alive…wait…what do you mean you've learned more now…are you in school?"

Faith's eyes widened at her slip up and she looked exactly like a deer caught in headlights. "Uhh…I meant like hanging out with people from high school, ya know like in the library?" she said in an unconvincing tone.

"Faith…" said Buffy sternly, "Tell me the truth."

Fortunately, someone else interrupted her interrogation on the other end.

"Hey, where's the bathroom?" asked a feminine voice in the background of Faith's room.

A pretty blonde girl appeared behind Faith and Buffy immediately glared at the girl. Both Dawn and Buffy noticed that Faith and the girl were wearing pajamas and they seemed to be very comfortable with one another.

"Damn Tor, I've told you like 5 times already. Go down the hall and it should be on your left."

"Okay okay…who are you talking to?" asked Torrance.

"Just some friends back in LA, now shoo!"

Torrance puffed out an indignant huff and she placed her hands on her hips. "You are such a bitch."

"Only for you babe" said Faith in a sweet tone.

Rolling her eyes, Torrance walked out and said, "Whatever."

Faith turned her attention back to their web cam session and saw Dawn and Buffy gawking at her. Buffy seemed to be glaring at her while Dawn regarded her with a curious expression. "What?" she asked.

"Oh my god!" squeaked Dawn, "Is that your girlfriend?"

Buffy immediately looked at her younger sister and became very confused. _Girlfriend? Faith's gay? Wait, what happened to get some get gone? Who in the world could get her to settle down?!_

"No she's not Dawn, just a friend."

"But you guys are totally sleeping together aren't you?"

"Dawn, I'm not fucking her alright? As hot as Tor is, there is no way I'm going to fuck a friend."

Dawn pouted then looked at Faith for further explanation, but luckily Torrance came back in.

"Hey, we should sleep soon, got a very long day ahead of us."

"Alright Captain!" saluted Faith.

Torrance climbed into the covers and settled on Faith's bed.

"Sorry, got to sleep, the captain demands it. Night Dawn. Oh Buffy, keep it down when you go through your double H's, you don't want to pop Little D's innocence bubble."

"Faith!" they both yelled in embarrassment.

Faith just chuckled and turned off her computer. The brunette turned off all her lights and got into the other side of the bed. She slightly turned towards the other girl, "Hey…" she said to Torrance, "Are you into my brother?"

"What? No!" she vehemently denied.

Faith rolled back to her side and shook her head lightly, not believing that Torrance was not at least a little attracted to her brother. With that thought, the brunette visibly shuddered and wondered how _anyone_ could ever be attracted to her dimwitted brother.

Back at the Summer's home, Buffy was starting to grill Dawn about Faith's personal life. Dawn was extremely irritated at all the questions bombarded at her.

"Faith's in school? Where does she go? What grade is she in? Who was that girl in her room? Is she sleeping with her? Is Faith gay? How long have you known this?"

"Buffy! Stop it! Too many questions at once. Okay, yes Faith is in school, she's in San Diego, she's a Junior, I have no idea who that girl was and as you just saw, they are sleeping on the same bed. Does it matter what orientation she is? I mean the girl seriously just oozes out sex. Willow's the one who knows everything. Go ask her instead!"

Dawn immediately ran out of the living room and into the refuge of her room before Buffy could pull more information. Buffy on the other hand was trying to process all the information that Dawn just spilled. After a very long silence, Buffy muttered, "Why didn't she ever hit on me?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 5**

"See you tomorrow Jan!" shouted Torrance through Les's station wagon car.

The boy waved back and went back into his home. Les backed out of the driveway and went towards Faith's home to drop Torrance and Faith off for their sleepover.

"We totally kicked ass tonight" commented Faith.

"Man that was awesome, even though the football team still sucks" said Les.

"True that, but whatever, we're just going to practice all of our routines anyways. Not like they actually watch the football game anymore" replied Torrance.

Les and Faith nodded their heads in agreement and thought about the new routine they had to learn. Torrance began to fiddle with Les's radio until she heard her favorite song.

Both Les and Faith groaned out, "Not again…"

Torrance just scoffed and turned the volume louder. "Shut up you two, it's a good song."

"For the first five or so times yes, but for the 100th? Hell no" said Faith.

The blonde cheerleader immediately belted out the lyrics, "Hey Mickey!"

"Oh no, look what you did Missy! You got her to sing" moaned Les.

Faith slapped her forehead out of frustration for her stupidity and then let out a painful groan from Torrance singing that dreadful song, for the 100th time.

"Les watch out!" shouted Torrance.

Les immediately slammed on the breaks when he saw what Torrance saw. A young woman collided with his car and fell down on the pavement. The three high schoolers were shocked for a few seconds until Faith took charge. She leapt out of the car and immediately ran over to the unconscious girl on the road. Gently turning the girl over, Faith observed how the girl was hurt, but not it was not from the car accident. Right at her jugular was two small holes that were still bleeding out. Applying pressure to the wound, Faith's slayer sense permeated around her and found several vampires lurking in the shadows.

"Oh my God, is she…oh God…" stuttered Les.

Faith glanced up at him and then at Torrance who was standing near the car, her complexion a sickly pale from fear and shock.

"Les, we have to get her to a hospital" said Faith, the boy could only stare at the blood and not make a move, "Now!"

Her shout made him aware of his surroundings again and he immediately held onto the girl when Faith handed her to him. Turning to Torrance, Faith pulled the blonde closer and put her hand on the girl's neck.

"Keep pressure on that, don't let her bleed anymore, go to the hospital."

They loaded the girl into the backseat with Torrance still pressing on the wound. Les was behind the wheel now and Faith went to his window to give him instructions.

"Hospital, now, she needs a lot of blood and fast."

"Wait aren't you coming?" he asked.

"I have to take care of some things here, just go now or she's gonna die!" hissed Faith.

Les nodded and quickly drove away. Now, the vampires thought they had a quick and easy meal so they revealed themselves to the seemingly defenseless girl. Already in game face, five vampires surrounded her on the empty road, thinking that they could intimidate her.

"Well looky what we have here boys, a little cheerleader" said the leader of the group.

All of them chuckled around her, dreaming of the fun they could have with her before they would feed. The leader who was a blonde edged closer to her and saw her shiver. In his foolishness, he attributed it to fear, but it was her slayer waking up to the fight.

"Mmm…you look mighty tasty girly, and you look so very sweet."

The other vampire to his right licked his fangs in hunger and lust at the teenage girl.

"Brandon, maybe we should, you know turn her. She's one piece of hot ass that shouldn't be wasted."

The leader turned towards his man and snarled.

"I get to pick who is going to be turned and who isn't, so shut your fucking mouth Zach."

"Okay…" said Zach in fear of his leader.

Brandon turned towards Faith again and looked her over, several times, especially concentrating on the amount of skin she revealed.

"But you're right, this is too good of an opportunity to waste. Make her my bitch."

Faith was starting to get tired of them, but in her flimsy uniform there was no place to conceal a stake. She was scanning the area to ensure that no one would be in the crossfire and to find a weapon to shut them up.

The head vampire stalked towards the girl with a feral glint in his yellow eyes as he eyed his prey. Hunting was just another natural instinct to him, and this specimen was something that he knew would be exquisite. The joy and rush of chasing and obtaining the prey was remarkable to him. He just never figured that he would be the prey. Within a second, Brandon's vision was no longer towards the girl, but swung so fast that he was staring at his colleague's shocked face and promptly felt his body disappear. In his place was a pile of dust. The slayer was on the loose.

Faith finished twisting his head off and turned towards the other vampires with the look of a huntress in her brown eyes. If Buffy were here, she would probably be punning by now, but Faith just wanted to let the slayer loose, it had been awhile. With all the extra cheer practice she only had time for a quick sweep before she was too tired to patrol. All the other vampires stared in shock at the dust pile that was their leader, and now they were angry.

"Slayer!" shouted a vampire with a brain.

All of them rushed at her at once, not even thinking about teamwork anymore, they only thought with their initial instincts. Faith grabbed one of them and swung him around her to knock the other vampires to the ground, when they were all down she twisted his neck and moved onto the next vampire before he was even dust. One of the vampires quickly flipped back up and circled Faith, waiting for a weakness. He let out a right hook to her chin but it was blocked and felt a hand palm break his nose. Blood rushed out of his nostrils and he staggered back a few steps while he clutched his face and screamed out in agony. Another vampire tried to jump her from behind but Faith already anticipated this. She moved to the side and gave him a side kick in the air, shooting him 10 feet across the sidewalk into a tree. The last vampire round house kicked her in the gut and Faith doubled over when she lost her breath, he took his advantage and kneed her in the face. Her blood spurted from her nose and onto the pavement. The vampire's nostrils flared at the sweet scent of the slayer's blood, and he started to become desperate to have a taste. Faith stumbled backwards from the force and regained her balance on the way. She threw out a flurry of punches that the vampire could barely block until the vampire with the bloody nose tackled her onto the ground. He pinned her face down on the floor before she could regain her bearings. Baring his fangs, the vampire prepared to sink his teeth into the slayer's neck, ready to taste what vampires called ambrosia; until he got head-butted in the nose. Bucking him off, Faith ran to a tree and tore off a thick branch. The vampire, still whimpering in pain barely even knew he was dusted. Now there were two left. The vampires looked at each other in the eye, and ran off in opposite directions. She was ready to run after them, but a beam from a car's headlights stopped her.

"Missy!" yelled Torrance, "Are you okay?"

Faith dropped the branch and casually walked back to the car.

"I'm five by five" answered Faith.

She got into the car and waited for them to drive off, but Les and Torrance kept staring at her.

"What?" asked Faith.

"You're bleeding…like a lot" said Les.

Wiping her nose with her forearm, Faith saw that she really was bleeding quite heavily.

"It's no big, just a bloody nose."

"Are you sure? We could just go to a hospital" suggested Torrance.

Faith gave them a reassuring smile, "No big Tor, just an ice pack and I'll be fine by tomorrow."

Torrance and Les shared a look, but said nothing. They were wary about the situation and knew that she was keeping something from them. Les reluctantly dropped Torrance and Faith off, his emotions running rabid from the night's events. The young man sat down heavily on his bed, rubbing his face with his palms. He couldn't understand what had happened, but he remembered the two gaping holes on that girl's neck. The news reports that never concerned him started to flitter through his mind. Unsolvable cases with victims having severe blood loss, puncture wounds in their neck and all of them attacked during the night. He wanted an explanation for tonight's accident and the other murders he had heard about. One conclusion kept popping back into his mind, but as a rational creature, he quickly dismissed that idea. Feeling his head start to throb from all the questions, Les crawled under his covers and tried to sleep.

"There are no such things as vampires…" he muttered before succumbing to sleep.

* * *

"Missy are you sure you're okay?" asked Torrance.

The two girls walked through the hallway to Faith's room. Torrance was looking at some bruises that had formed on her friend's exposed arms and legs and started to become very worried for her well-being. In addition to her nose bleeding, the bruises were making the blonde anxious.

"I'm fine Tor, don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about it?" repeated the blonde in an exasperated tone, "Missy, your nose was gushing with blood and now you look like some beaten housewife, and you're telling me to not worry about it?"

Torrance's voice rose as she uttered every word and it had woken up her brother.

"Miss?" asked Cliff.

He came out from his room, sleepily rubbing his eyes and straining to see through his sleep lidded eyes. Once he saw his sister, he immediately ran over to her and gently touched her arm.

"Jesus, Miss, what the hell happened?" he demanded.

"Nothing Cliff" she hissed in warning.

Cliff gave her a look that conveyed his concern and Faith immediately softened her behavior and patted her brother on his arm.

"I'm alright Cliff" she said honestly.

The boy shook his head but knew that his sister had fast healing due to her powers, even though he could not understand and hated her calling, he was going to be supportive.

"Fine, but we're going to take care of these wounds alright?" he said in his brotherly authoritative tone.

Faith sighed in defeat, she knew she didn't have a choice in the matter when he was like this.

"Alright…"

Cliff smiled at Torrance who was confused at the situation, but knowing that Missy was going to get treated for her injuries made the tension ease.

"First off, let's clean up that blood" said Torrance.

* * *

Tara swiftly unlocked the door to her dormitory and dumped her books onto the nearest chair. She dropped her bag onto the ground and closed the door with her foot. Her eyes were captivated by the redhead who was lying on her belly with her feet waving in the air. She took in the sight of Willow wearing her t-shirt and sweatpants, smiling at the cuteness the redhead portrayed. Willow was reading an article online with her laptop and waited for Tara to come over to her.

"Willow…" began Tara, "You haven't gone back to your room yet have you?"

The redhead pouted slightly and gave her girlfriend the best puppy dog expression she could.

"What are you saying Tara, are you getting tired of me?"

"N-no" stuttered the blonde, "It's just…well…"

The now-shy blonde sat down next to Willow and lovingly interlaced her fingers with Willow's fingers; she gently squeezed the redhead's hand. Willow sensed that her girl was trying to be serious so she dropped the act and gave Tara her full attention.

"Tara baby, what is it?"

Tara took a breath of courage and looked straight into Willow's concerned eyes.

"Willow, you haven't showered in 5 days. You're starting …to you know…smell a bit."

The redhead opened and closed her mouth several times; she was having trouble processing the information and could not form any words at the moment. Tara was staring intently at her, waiting for the redhead's reply. But as of now, the redhead looked like a gaping fish.

"Oh…" was all the redhead could manage.

Tara immediately went into caring girlfriend mode. She used her free hand to cup the redhead's cheek and gave her a chaste kiss.

"You smell wonderfully Willow, but don't you think it's time to … you know, face Buffy?"

Hearing her best friend's name gave a jolt to Willow's brain into functioning once again. Furiously shaking her head in defiance, Willow gripped Tara's hand tightly and gave her a pleading look.

"Nuh uh, never. No siree. There is no way I am going to face Buffy right now. Dawn warned me and I'm glad I didn't have to go there and now I don't really want to face the Slayer Death Squad. Unless you want me to Tara, and that wouldn't be so nice would it? I'm your girlfriend and a dead girlfriend doesn't do you any good, there won't be any more good morning kisses, good afternoon kisses, good night kisses, no more snuggling and definitely no more hanky panky on this bed right here. See, so let's not talk about Buffy anymore. There's this big wide bed for us to use right now."

Willow quickly pulled Tara down to her and gave the blonde a heart-stopping kiss, anything to stay away from Buffy until probably the end of time. Tara was distracted from the passionate kiss and couldn't even remember why she wanted Willow to go back; it was more than perfect to have her girlfriend living with her. Their make-out session started to progress, and Willow had pushed Tara down under her. The redhead kissed down Tara's throat and intertwined their fingers. Tara squeezed Willow's fingers every time her girlfriend hit a sensitive spot, and she was finding more and more of them when she started to use her teeth. She was constantly moaning her lover's name now. Willow smiled at Tara's breathy gasps and every whimper of her name.

A few light raps on Tara's door barely registered in either of the girl's mind, until it grew louder with each incessant knock. Tara craned her neck up to look at her door and down at Willow who was currently busy worshipping Tara's skin.

"Baby…the door."

"They'll go away" replied Willow, she let go of Tara's hand and slid them under the blonde's shirt. Tara arched her back from the new sensation while Willow enjoyed the heated smooth skin.

They continued until the knocks became outright bangs on the door. Willow could tell that Tara did not want to be rude and leave the person banging on the door; it could be an emergency. The blonde pushed on Willow's shoulders to let her up and the redhead let out a frustrated moan.

"Will, it could be—"

"An emergency, yea I know" Willow kissed Tara's forehead and smoothed out her hair "I'll see what's up, stay here."

The redhead was now extremely irritated and frustrated and she intended to express her emotions to the unsolicited intruder. Throwing open the door, Willow hissed, "What do you…"

Standing before her was none other than her roommate who had been waiting for Willow.

"Hello best-friend of mine who I have not seen in days" said an overly cheerful Buffy, "It's so nice that I finally get to catch you here, you know every time I come by you never seem to be here or at our room."

The redhead was frozen, she could not even let out her characteristic stutter. Buffy looked past Willow's shoulder to see Tara sitting on the bed smoothing her shirt down.

"Hey Tara, isn't it wonderful that I'm finally able to see Willow here. It just seems like that I always just miss her by a minute."

"Uhhm…y-yea Buffy."

"So Tara, do you mind if I have some quality roommate slash best friend time with Wills here?"

Willow whirled around and pleaded with her girlfriend through her eyes and pout. Tara wanted to help Willow, but one stern look from Buffy and the blond witch was determined to not be in the crossfire.

"I'll just..." Tara got up from the bed and looked at the floor, not catching Willow's look of betrayal as she slipped past the two friends to hurry out of the awkward situation.

Buffy turned her attention back towards Willow and smiled sweetly at her friend. "So Will, I think we have much to talk about. Let's name one, Faith."

Willow gulped down the lump that formed in her throat and watched Buffy close the door and immediately stalked towards Willow.

* * *

Torrance quickly sat at the lab table next to Les in advanced chemistry class when the last warning bell rung. Les smiled at Torrance and continued to take out his notebooks and pencils for the class.

"Cutting it a bit close Tor."

Rolling her eyes, she responded, "It's Missy's fault, who the heck only has one hair dryer in the house?"

"Goodness gracious!" he said sarcastically, "Only one blow dryer? That's absurd!"

"Shut up."

When the lesson started, Torrance was jotting down notes while the teacher lectured, but Les was preoccupied with last night's event. He glanced down at his empty notebook and then back at Torrance.

Trying to be as subtle as possible he asked, "So, how's Missy doing?"

"She's fine, still a bit bruised up but she heals so fast, it's amazing."

"Oh, well, what happened to her? How did she get all beat up like that?"

"Don't know" she shrugged, "She wouldn't tell me."

Torrance's eyes conveyed her concern for her friend's well being and Les was worried that Missy was doing something dangerous to herself.

"That's just it Torrance, we don't know that much about Missy. We hang out with her and do all the friend things, but doesn't it seem like she's keeping us at arm's length? Like she doesn't want us to know the real her?"

The blonde pondered this for a minute and nodded her head in agreement. She liked Missy and wanted to know her more but the brunette never let her.

"Yea, she does do that doesn't she?"

"I'm just…I'm just scared that she's doing something bad" said Les in a low tone, "Sometimes she comes to practice with these bruises that she tries to cover up with make-up but after sweating a bit you can see it if you looked hard enough. Then those bruises would just disappear the next day, but there would be other ones."

"I know Les, but what can we do? She won't talk to us about it."

The boy thought about this for a few moments until a devilish grin spread on his face.

"What'd you just think of?"

"We're just concerned friends right?"

"Yes…" she hesitantly replied.

"What kind of friends are we if we let her get hurt?"

"I would say bad ones," she played along.

"Then I say we just follow her everywhere and see what she's up to."

"Uhh…isn't that stalking?"

"No of course not Tor, we're just friends concerned for our friend's well-being. Not creepers."

"Okay, fine, but if we're caught, it was all your idea. I had nothing to do with it."

"Well, we'll just not get caught."

* * *

At his townhome, Giles put down the phone with a heavy withdrawn sigh. The aging man sat down on the couch and took off his glasses to rub off his tired eyes. He really hated the council. He thought that since Buffy had made it clear to them that they were no longer working for them that they would not bother him anymore. Now they were calling him to ask about the second slayer. One that they knew was in contact with him once when he asked them about her when she first came to them. The council wanted what they called their slayer. Giles slowly made his way up the stairs to his room, wondering whether or not he should tell the rest of the Scoobies about the council's demands for information about Faith. At his bedside, the retired Watcher opened the drawer of his nightstand and took out a frame. Sitting down on his bed, he gently stroked the face on the frame with a sad smile.

"What should I do Jenny?"

Even after these years, he could not put his love for her away. He felt enormous guilt for the way he treated her before her death. He should have forgiven her silence about Angelus long before, but his pride and ego was in the way. So was his loyalty to his Slayer.

"I'm sorry Jenny."

* * *

"This is so boring" muttered Torrance for the 50th time.

Tired of hearing her complain Les snapped back, "It was your idea to make this boring stake-out. Why are we even here? It's almost midnight."

Torrance gave him a glare and shook her head while she peered out the tinted car window to Faith's home. "Duh Les, she doesn't get hurt at school so she has to get hurt when she isn't with us. With cheer practice going to practically sun down, now would be the only time she would go do something stupid."

"What if she doesn't come out today?"

"What if she does?"

"We can't stay here forever you know."

"How about another hour?"

"15 minutes."

"45"

"20"

"30"

"Fine, 30 but no more than that alright?"

"Doesn't seem like we'll need it."

"Huh?"

"Look!"

Torrance pointed to the side of the house where Faith's room was, and they could see a female silhouette climbing down the tree that extended to her window.

"Ding ding, we have a delinquent."

They both watched her gracefully jump down the tree and walk to the sidewalk. Both of them ducked down quickly and slowly poked their head out to see if she saw them. She didn't. Faith looked like the average defenseless teenage girl walking down the street in the dangerous night.

"She's going on foot, we can't use the car" said Les.

"Then let's go!"

"What?" hissed the boy, "We can't, she could see us."

Before he could protest anymore, Torrance quickly got out of the car and ran over to his side. She opened his door and pulled him out, he reluctantly let her.

"This is a horrible idea."

Rolling her eyes, Torrance glanced at Faith rounding the corner of the street and she quickly pulled on Les's hand. "We're gonna lose her, come on."

* * *

"So Giles, what's the emergency?" asked Buffy.

Buffy bounced into his home, dragging Willow along. They all situated themselves in the living room, Tara, Xander and Anya were already there before them. Giles took off his glasses and meticulously cleaned them, perhaps to make them anticipate his next words.

"It's about Faith…and the council."

Buffy immediately perked up, as did everyone else, but she was the most concerned out of all of them. "What? What do they want with her?" she said in a menacing tone.

"They want a Slayer, and they want Faith."

"They can't have her" she grounded out, her eyes shooting stakes at him.

"Y-yes Buffy, I quite know that. They don't know where she is. After Wesley left us, he went in search of her, but I suppose he never found her. The council called me today and questioned me about her."

Willow asked, "Well, what'd you say to them?"

"I feigned ignorance, I'm sure they know I know at least something or another about her. No one can just disappear without help."

"What do you mean without help?" asked Buffy.

"They tried to use their mystics but _someone_ blocked her essence" Giles gave Willow a proud smile and the redhead bashfully smiled back.

Seeing this exchange, Buffy looked at Willow and nudged her with her shoulder. "So, you also did some mojo on her?"

"Tara helped!"

"W-what?" stuttered the blonde.

Buffy just rolled her eyes at the couple and looked back at Giles, her face a mask of concern.

"Is there some way they can get to her then?"

Tara interrupted before Giles could answer, "Magically no, only the caster can lift the spell. It's very powerful."

Buffy nodded, "Okay, not magic. But the government, if they have Faith's name or anything, can't they just track her?"

"If they did, they would already have done it. Their only link to her is through us."

"That's good though right?" asked Xander, "Not like any of us knows where she is anyways."

Willow, Buffy, and Giles all looked at anything but him. The boy immediately figured it out.

"Hey!" he said, "You guys knew? How come I didn't know?"

"I just found out today" said Buffy glaring at Willow.

The nerdy witch visibly shrunk a bit and she tried to ease her way out of it with her shy smile, but her two friends just stared her down.

"W-well, it's not like you two bothered to talk with her anymore. You both have her e-mails."

The two of them instantly felt guilty. It was true, only Willow and Dawn still talked to Faith. After finding himself in a relationship with Anya, most thoughts of Faith were obliterated from his mind. There was the occasional fantasy that featured her, along with all his other female friends. Buffy wasn't sure why she didn't keep in contact with her sister slayer. There were things inside her that she never knew were even there when she was around Faith, and it scared her to no end. It was easier to just let those feelings lie.

"Faith is the other slayer right?" asked Anya, breaking the awkward silence.

"Yes Anya" replied Xander.

"Okay, as long as she doesn't come after my Xander."

Everyone ignored her while Xander gently patted her arm in assurance.

"Well, the situation now, should we tell Faith of this development?" asked Giles.

"She has a right to know" said Buffy, "And it's better for her if she gets a heads up from us. The council might find her and she won't know what's happening."

"How would we warn her, I'm sure the Council are keeping tabs on us, probably even listening in on our bloody phone calls."

Buffy looked around the room suspiciously, "Is it safe to talk here?" she whispered.

"Don't' worry Buffy, I checked for anything mystical when Giles told me to come" said Tara.

"And I manually looked for any bugging devices" added Xander.

Buffy nodded her head but was still restless over the situation, "So it isn't safe to call her or contact her over the internet?"

"Don't worry about it Buffy, I'll just send her an e-mail and the Council won't be able to track it or read it" said Willow with confidence and pride.

"Okay, so from now on…we can't talk to Faith?" asked Buffy.

Giles nodded solemnly, he would converse with her occasionally, she not only updated him on the vampire and demon population she slayed, but she was a delightful young woman to talk to.

"I'm afraid so Buffy, for Faith's sake."

* * *

Torrance and Les were hiding behind a pine tree, occasionally peeking out to see Faith idly swinging her legs where she sat on top of a tombstone. The young girl had on headphones and was listening to music so loudly that Torrance and Les could hear it 20 feet away.

"Why is she at a cemetery?" hissed Torrance.

"Maybe she's visiting someone."

"She's sitting on a slab of rock banging her head to music. I don't think so."

"I don't know then, I guess this is her favorite place to escape" reasoned Les. His previously musings were starting to come back to him, and he was starting to get scared.

"I bet she's meeting someone here, what if she has an abusive boyfriend? I'm so going to kick his ass!"

"Relax Tor, we don't even know—"

Torrance cut him off with a wild shake of her hand, the boy looked to see a blonde man walk towards Faith. Her back was facing him and she did not look like she suspected a thing.

"She is meeting a boy, and look he totally looks like the type who beats on women" Torrance jeered, she gave an indignant huff and moved towards them, "I'm going to beat his ass for hurting her."

Les restrained Torrance and tried to calm her down. "Torrance we're not even sure if …what the hell?"

The two teenagers looked closely at the man, his face suddenly changed and he looked ugly as hell.

"W-what…what happened to his face?" murmured Torrance, her body going slack from the shock.

Les rubbed his eyes and shook his head, sure that it was his eyes playing tricks on him. But it wasn't, when he looked back, he saw a set of yellow fangs gleam under the bright moonlight.

"That's not possible, this isn't possible. He can't be…" mumbled Les, clearly going into shock.

"What can't he be?" asked Torrance, she was still clueless about the situation. Her eyes went back to him and to Faith who was still sitting without a care in the world.

Les said under his breath, "Vampire."

Then they saw him lunge at Faith. They wanted to warn her, but stopped mid-call. Faith did a backward somersault and landed behind the vampire.

Faith took off her headphones while the vampire turned around and growled at her.

"Gee, took you long enough. You know how long I was waiting here? You vampires aren't punctual at all."

The vampire growled at her and threw a right hook to her face, she knocked his arm back and face palmed to smash his nose. The vampire stumbled backwards from the pain and force and Faith made him fly over the tombstones with a stunning side kick. As he fell to the ground, Faith leapt over the tombstones and landed right before him, gloating.

"Man, I thought I would get a better workout tonight, but you're just weak.

Before he had a chance to get up or say anything back, the brunette took out a stake from the waistband of her jeans and plunged the wood into his unbeating heart. Disintegrating into dust as usual, Faith twirled the stake and put it back into her waistband. Faith walked off further into the cemetery, whistling loudly as she went.

Les and Torrance stood stock-still, their mouths hanging open at what they just saw. Their brains were trying to come up with a suitable explanation for the phenomenon, but they were all implausible except one. Even that reason in itself was impossible. Faith did not just kill a vampire. They didn't exist. They are a myth. But they couldn't evade the truth, they just had to talk to Faith now. With a silent agreement, Les and Torrance were ready to confront their friend, until two freezing hands covered their mouths and another immobilized them. They were lifted off the ground and turned towards a very pale brunette woman. The woman wore a cruel and calculating smile as she stared hungrily at the two young teenagers.

"Mmm…you two look positively delicious."

"Mistress" hissed the vampire that held Torrance, "Which one would you like feed off first?"

"Take them back to the warehouse, I want to savor them" grinned the vampire.

The two vampires that held them nodded their hands dutifully. The mistress vampire turned around to head back to her so called home, until she heard two definite poofs behind her. Whirling around, she was face to face with her reaper, and the reaper was pissed.

"Slayer!" hissed the vampire.

"Touch my friends and this is what you get."

She could only stare wide-eyed at the slayer and feel the wood pierce her heart, her screams muted by her being turned to dust. Faith turned back to her friends and glared at them, she crossed her arms over her chest and stared down at Torrance and Lester.

"What the hell do you think you guys are doing?" she demanded.

Not able to form any response that would further get them into trouble, Lester decided to sidetrack her.

"What's a Slayer?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7

* * *

**

Dawn peeked out through the living room window and spied on her sister and her sister's boyfriend on the porch. The brunette let out a disgusted grunt and roughly shoved the curtains back in its place before going back into the kitchen to help her mother.

"Honey would you set the table?"

"Sure."

Laying down the plates and cutlery in their places, Dawn just thought back to her sister and released an involuntary shiver of revulsion. Joyce saw her youngest daughter's reaction and wondered what had caused it. She knew she didn't make anything that her daughter hated to eat; in fact it was all of her favorites.

"Dawn, what's with the look?"

"Buffy and beefstick are making out on the porch" shivered Dawn.

With a small shake of her head in disapproval, Joyce said, "leave your sister alone, and stop calling him beefstick, his name is Riley dear."

"So what? I don't like him and Faith called him that when I showed her his picture. She asked if he lived off of beef and steroids" said Dawn with a huge smile.

Joyce noticed once again that Dawn's demeanor would brighten up entirely when anyone mentioned Faith.

"Speaking of Faith, why haven't you invited her back here?"

She liked having Faith around, not only as another Slayer to help her daughter in case anything happened, but she truly liked the sassy brunette. Her motherly senses saw right through Faith's armor and she liked what she saw.

"Buffy told me not to talk to her anymore" mumbled Dawn, "not sure why she doesn't want me to, Willow already masked her from the council."

Joyce halted while she brought food to the table and placed it down. Gently rubbing her now dejected daughter, Joyce smiled warmly at her.

"Buffy's just being cautious. She doesn't want anything bad to happen to Faith, but I'm sure she's just being overprotective. How about you invite Faith to stay for a few days?"

Dawn's face immediately lit up and she gave her mother a great big hug to show her gratitude.

"So she can come whenever right? I don't have to go tell Buffy do I?"

"No dear, let's make it a surprise; I'm sure your sister would be glad to see her too."

Outside the Summer's home, Buffy broke away from Riley and held his hand while they gazed lovingly into each other's eyes. Buffy's smile was slowly turning into a frown when real life started to seep back in.

"Hey" said Riley, smoothing her furrowed eyebrows with his thumb, "What's wrong?"

Sighing dramatically, Buffy stepped forward and rested the side of her face on the Iowa boy's strong chest. "Nothing" she mumbled.

"Buffy…"

Cue another dramatic girly sigh, "Faith."

Riley nodded empathetically and gently rubbed her shoulders, "I thought Willow already masked her essence with magic. If you're really worried I could get the Initiative to help. It's easy for us to just erase her data from the government; we could even put her into witness protection."

Buffy quickly shook her head and pulled herself away from Riley.

"No, I don't want any more people to know about her."

The farm boy nodded and pulled Buffy in for another hug, he lightly trailed his arms across her back, hoping to protect her from the world, even though she was the stronger of them.

Back in the kitchen, Dawn and Joyce finished setting up the table and had all the food in the center. Dawn plopped down on her chair and waited impatiently for her sister and her boy toy to finish making out so that she could eat. Joyce sat at the front of the rectangular table and smiled at her daughter.

"So how's high school my little pumpkin belly?"

Dawn rolled her eyes at the nickname, but inwardly smiled that her mother did it, "Mom" she groaned, "It's fine."

"Any extra-curricular activities you want to join?"

The brunette thought about it for a moment, thinking of all the classes that were offered in high school that were not offered in middle school. For a moment she thought of Faith, and how cool she was.

"I was thinking of cheerleading" said Dawn.

Buffy came into the kitchen and quirked an eyebrow at her little sister after hearing her, "Cheerleading? What are you copying me?"

"Ew no, why would I ever want to copy you?"

Riley and Buffy sat next to each other at the table. Buffy looked at her mother and raised her eyebrow again then looked back at Dawn with a 'are you kidding me?' look.

"Cheerleading, I did that in high school. Since when did you even consider that, I thought you were more into band or something."

"Since Faith started—uh, started dating a cheerleader" stumbled Dawn. She was proud that she could keep Faith's secret, even if Faith didn't know that she and Willow knew she was a cheerleader. If Buffy found out from her, she knew that Faith would most likely torture her, through tickle-fests, noogies, and possibly purple nipples.

Everyone else just froze while the news of Faith's supposed new love-interest was revealed. The first to break the silence was Joyce.

"Well, it's nice that Faith found someone to start a relationship with, but I don't understand how that would want to make you interested in cheerleading."

"Oh, it's just…well Faith said some things about cheerleading, and from what she said it sounded like fun."

Buffy wasn't sure what to make of this, at the initial news of Faith settling down with someone, white rage and jealousy soared through her, and she felt like punching through the wall. After a few seconds of the immensely uncomfortable feeling, she regained her bearings and looked at Dawn. "She has a girlfriend?"

Dawn swallowed the lump in her throat while she physically cringed at the way Buffy was staring at her. She would normally scramble to her mother and scream that Buffy was being mean, but she could not even do that at this point. Poor Dawn was too scared.

"Uh…yea I think, she didn't really, say that…more like I inferred, from what she told me online."

"Is it that blonde bit—girl we saw?"

"I t-think so" stuttered Dawn.

Another frightening glare from Buffy and Buffy dropped her head and picked at her dinner while everyone else ate.

After the somewhat tense and uncomfortable dinner, where Buffy gave terse answers to all the questions aimed at her, Buffy and Riley were at the cemeteries doing a routine sweep. For the third time, Riley defeated a vampire after an arduous attempt at fighting it. He looked over at Buffy, who was still pummeling her opponent to a bloody pulp. She normally efficiently staked them while she punned, but today, she was letting go of all of her emotions and wanted to beat on them. Buffy was slamming her fist into the vampire whose head was already beaten in. The vampire was in held up against the mausoleum by Buffy, and the vampire wished that the blonde slayer would stake him so that he could rest in peace. Instead of that happening, Buffy unleashed a punch so strong, that the vampire's head flew off its own body. Riley ran to Buffy as the vampire disintegrated into dust, he was worried about her unleashing the slayer so profoundly.

"Buffy" he said while he looked over at her bruised and bloody knuckles, "Are you okay?"

"Five by five."

"What does that mean?"

Buffy shook her head to clear it and she pulled her hands away from her boyfriend.

"You know, I'm not even sure what that means," she said with malice, "she always says that but I never even get it. I guess it means fine or something, that or something to do with a two by four. I mean who actually says numbers as a way of answering how they are, Faith, that's who. And she doesn't even use one number, she uses two of them."

Buffy continued to rant and walk around the cemetery, hoping for another vampire to beat on, while Riley stood by her side, perplexed by her behavior but trying to act the part of the caring boyfriend; even though as of now, he thought that Buffy was slightly insane.

—**O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

"Go Missy!" cheered Torrance.

Faith was busy fighting off three vampires who had jumped their little group while they were patrolling. While Faith fought for her life, the others were on the sidelines, watching and cheering.

"Should we help her?" asked Lester, he was mesmerized by the way Faith fought off her attackers. She looked as if she were dancing in the moonlight while she punched and kicked the undead.

The brunette staked the last of the vampires and casually strolled back to her friends. She expertly flipped and twirled the stake around her hand.

"That was a good workout, haven't had that since Sunnyhell."

Faith's nose scrunched up and she let out a small sneeze, the fifth one since she began patrolling. "Ugh…" she groaned, "Why does that keep happening?"

"Are you sick?" asked Torrance.

"No, slayers don't get sick."

"But you've been sneezing a lot" pointed out Lester.

"Slayers don't get sick."

Torrance hooked her arm around Faith's arm and they all started walking in the cemetery again.

"Maybe someone's talking shit about you then, guesses of Courtney and Whitney" said Torrance.

"And that's going to make me sneeze?"

"There's that myth about that yea."

"Well if it's anyone to talk shit about me, it's them. I don't think I have any enemies other than them and the whole demon population."

The three friends continued to patrol the cemetery, making the world a safer place for those stupid enough to wander around at night alone. They saw a figure at the end of the cemetery, as they got closer they saw that it was an attractive woman in her 30's. She had shoulder length brown hair and had pretty almond shaped brown eyes. When they were near her, the woman turned towards them and blew out a breath of relief.

"Well there you are, do you know how long I've been waiting for you to finally finish?" she asked while she looked directly at Faith.

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Faith, immediately on the defensive.

"Oh right, you don't know me, but I've been looking for you."

Faith dropped Torrance's arm and tentatively studied the threat, she stepped ahead of Torrance and Lester, ready to defend them if the woman tried to hurt them.

"What the hell do you want?"

"Don't worry, I'm not your enemy, I was sent here to look for you."

"By who, the watcher's council? You don't sound British."

The woman chuckled and shook her head, "No I'm not, but that seems like an accurate description of them."

"If you're not from the council, then who the hell are you and why the fuck are you looking for me?"

"I was sent here to look for you. You're Faith the Vampire Slayer, or do you go by Missy now?"

Faith took a step towards the woman, seeing her as a bigger threat now that she knew about her.

"Wait a moment Faith, not here to do any damage, in fact I'm just here to help you. I was sent here by the Powers that Be. They judged that the watcher's council is too corrupt now and they don't want them near another slayer, so they sent me to help you."

"And who might you be?"

"I'm Jenny Calender, sent by the Powers that Be to help you fight the good fight."

The young teenager stared at the woman with her jaw dropped and then a few minutes later she blurted out, "You have got to be shitting me!"

—**O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

Faith strolled through the school hallway, glancing down at her new schedule in one hand as she juggled her textbooks in the other. She repeated the room number of her next class in her head while she scanned the doors for her classroom. The first bell had rung and all the other students around her scrambled to get to class on time. She felt a familiar presence next to her and smiled.

"So Miss, what's your new schedule?" asked Lester.

"Not much different, just replaced a class" said Faith, "I am now looking for computer science."

Lester took Faith's textbooks and added it to his own pile, "Comp sci? You have comp sci?" he asked with a grin, "I have it too!"

She looked at him and gently punched him in the arm, "Nuh uh, you're kidding!"

"Nope, you're stuck with me for this semester."

The pair entered the classroom and sat down in front of the computers, waiting for the teacher who was running late.

"Heard about the teacher?" asked Faith.

"No, she's new."

"Damn, I hope she's easy, I can really go for an easy A, I'm already suffering in advanced chem, I think Tor's doing badly too."

"Oh come on Missy, chem isn't that bad."

"You only say that cause you have an A," said Faith with an intense glare.

Les smiled charmingly at her and bumped her shoulder with his, her glare went down and her lips turned into a small cute pout. The boy immediately melted in front of her adorable display.

"Aw, I'm sorry Miss, how about I tutor you later?"

"Tutoring?" asked Faith while her face turned into a grimace, "Can't you just sneak me the answers during the test?"

"Now how is that going to help you get into college?"

"Les, I probably won't even live that long" she said grimly.

"Miss, don't say that" he chided gently.

Faith just looked down at her hands and shook her head from side to side. "It's the truth Les, we don't live long, most of us don't live to be 18."

Grabbing her hand in a comforting gesture, Les lightly squeezed it and made her look at him. He looked at her intensely, "I'm going to make sure you live a long and lazy life Miss."

Chuckling a bit, Faith patted his hand that was on hers and retracted her hands back to her lap. "Thanks Les."

The door opened and in walked the new teacher. Faith and Lester stared at the new teacher and they both looked at each other, not sure of what to make of it.

"Hello class, sorry for the delay. I'm Ms. Calender, your new computer science teacher."

After the class was over and all the student's left, Faith stood in front of Jenny's desk and slammed her textbooks down, making the poor teacher jump a bit. "J.C, what are you doing at my school?"

Jenny sighed loudly, "Well, I was a computer science teacher before, and I needed a way to contact you during school. This was the best way."

Faith rolled her eyes in frustration and ran her hands through her silky hair. Lester stood near the door of the classroom, just in case Faith needed him.

"Okay fine" said Faith, "there anything going on right now?"

"The Powers haven't given me any instructions but they're very edgy about something."

"No idea what's brewing?"

"It could be anything, but probably not in San Diego."

"You think it's got to do with G-man and B?"

At the mention of Rupert, Jenny slightly deflated and sagged in her seat. Faith immediately knew her mistake and she went around the desk and laid a hand on Jenny's shoulder.

"Don't you think we should tell him?"

"Faith, he thinks I'm dead, he probably moved on by now."

"But— "

"No" she interrupted, "I can't…I don't want to interrupt his life unless I have to. Please don't say anything to them okay?"

Faith nodded her head, worried about Jenny. It had been a couple of weeks since Jenny appeared in her life claiming to be sent from the Powers. The brunette had been wary of Jenny, but she had proven that she was from the Powers, telling Faith what the big bads were planning in her area. But it wasn't until she learned about Jenny's past did she trust her.

**-Flash back-**

"Faith!" shouted Jenny as she ran to catch up to the stubborn slayer.

Faith whirled around and gave a glare that would make the vampires want to spontaneously combust, but Jenny held her ground, she stared right back at Faith. "What do you want with me? Geez, you're worse than my first watcher, which she wound up dead. So if you don't want to have the same fate as her, just get the hell out of my life!"

Jenny just smirked at Faith and Faith was slightly perturbed by it.

"You know, that little fact doesn't really make me scared to be around you Faith."

"What you're not scared of dying?" asked Faith incredulously.

"You can't be scared of death if you've already died."

"What?" Faith looked at Jenny with a confused expression, but she was curious about it "What are you talking about?"

"I'm technically already dead Faith. The Powers felt that I still had it in me to fight, so they gave me another chance."

Looking at Jenny in a new light, Faith asked, "How'd you die?"

Jenny sat down on a conveniently placed bench and she patted the seat next to her so that Faith would sit. Sitting down cautiously next to Jenny, Faith faced her and used her eyes to show that she wanted Jenny to continue.

"I was killed by Angelus" said Jenny with a look of sorrow, "But it was mostly my fault."

"What, how's that your fault? You were killed by a soulless monster. By the way he has a soul now."

"I know he has one, we were the people who gave it to him."

"Who are you?"

"I'm was born Janna of the Kalderash, the Kalderash were the gypsies that gave Angel his soul when he killed one of our most beloved daughters. He killed me after he lost his soul to Buffy from his moment of true happiness."

"Oh, when they bumped uglies?"

Jenny chuckled at Faith's language, but she found the teenager refreshing and genuinely liked her. "Yea, that's one way to put it. He killed me because I tried to restore his soul. I heard Willow gave him his soul though."

"Yea she did, she's a pretty powerful witch now."

"If she could do the soul restoration spell as her first, I'm sure she is."

The slayer took a few minutes to take in the information, not sure about how she felt about Jenny now that she knew her past.

"Don't you want revenge…Angel killed you."

The gypsy tilted her head back and sighed into the night, "No, revenge is the last thing on my mind. I was partly at fault for him losing his soul. I knew about the true happiness clause, but I never told Rupert or Buffy."

Quirking an eyebrow at Giles's first name, Faith had to say, "Rupert? Were you guys bumping uglies too?"

The warm blush that fell on her face was proof enough that they had been. "W-well, you could say that, but we never…we never got a chance to start a relationship."

"Don't you want to see him again then? You're alive now, I'm sure that G-man misses you."

Jenny immediately faced Faith and waved her arms rapidly in the air, "No no no! Don't tell them I'm here!"

"Why not?"

"I just, I can't do that to him. He's probably moved on now right? It's been over a year."

"Look, J.C., I don't think G-man is the type of person to move on like that."

Jenny's eyebrows twitched upwards when she heard her new nickname, inwardly she was cheering that Faith had given her a nickname. She felt that Faith really only gave nicknames to people she was comfortable with or wanted to know better. "I don't know, but promise me you won't okay? I … I'll do it on my own."

"Alright…"

-**End Flashback-**

—**O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

In Sunnydale, Buffy's troubles just started. In an empty warehouse full of demon servants, a redhead plunged her hands into a security guards head and a blinding white light filled the room. A few seconds later, she pulled her hand out, and the security guard fell to the ground, mumbling incoherently to nothing at all.

She looked at her servants with an maniacal scowl and screamed "Where is my key? I want my key!"


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N **

Sorry this took so long, so now it's an extra longer chapter :) enjoy! p.s. sorry for the b/s thing. but it was needed :P

**Chapter 8**

"So…Missy" said Torrance, with a slight bounce in her steps while she walked alongside Faith.

Faith eyed the blonde warily, expertly twirling her stake as she let her senses scan for vampires, "Yea?"

"We should totally go visit Sunnydale" answered Torrance with a sly grin, "Right Les?" she nodded to the boy, their eyes meeting in conspiracy.

"She's right Miss, gotta visit that hellmouth thing right…and on the way, you know meet Buffy" he said, bumping his shoulder into Faith's.

The brunette slayer glared at the pair and walked faster, ignoring her friends. Les and Tor quickened their steps, eager to get Faith to go back to Sunnydale and finally meet the infamous Buffy Summers and her Scooby Gang.

"Come on Missy, you can't hide forever" whined the blonde girl as she clung onto Faith's arm.

Faith shakily ran her free hand through her curly locks and eyed her friends with uncertainty. "Her mom just got out of the hospital and there's some god shit she has on her turf, don't wanna bother B."

"All the more reason for you to go!" insisted Les, "Come on, she has so much on her plate maybe you should just help her out y'know. Ease her burden and you both can kick some god butts right? Plus I'm sure Dawn wants to see you again, she calls you all the time."

Torrance nodded in agreement and Faith looked around, nervous. "I don't know…" she began, starting to be swayed, "Maybe she needs some help and the squirt did ask me to come…"

"Yes!" squealed Torrance, she jumped up and wrapped Faith in a bear hug while Les hugged Faith from behind, squashing the slayer in between them. The brunette slayer stood still while her friends assaulted her, but she carried a small smile at the thought of seeing Buffy…and everyone again.

**—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

"Thank you for having me over Joyce" said Giles, drying a plate with a towel next to Buffy who was washing the dishes.

"It was my pleasure Rupert" said Joyce with a warm smile. The watcher blushed slightly and smiled back at her, until Buffy cleared her throat and shot her watcher a glare. Joyce walked over to Buffy and hugged her daughter, kissing her forehead in a motherly gesture.

"And dinner was fantastic Buffy, I'm surprised nothing was black" teased Joyce with a hint of mischief.

"Mom" whined Buffy, "I know I have to turn off the oven now…"

"Alright sweetie" said Joyce, her fatigue showing, "I'm just going to rest a bit upstairs, are you two going to be okay? Do you need any help?"

"Mom, we're going to be fine, go sleep okay?"

"Okay honey, bye Rupert."

"Yes yes…good night Joyce" stumbled Giles.

Buffy watched her mother leave the kitchen and she immediately quirked an eyebrow up at Giles. "No perving on my mother" warned Buffy.

"I assure you Buffy…I was not" stated Giles.

"Uh huh…" said an unconvinced Buffy.

"This aside" began Giles, hoping to steer the conversation away from him, "How is Dawn?"

"Better…it was really hard on her."

"And you?"

"I'm okay" she said, but a slight tremor in her voice gave her true feelings away.

"Buffy" he said in a fatherly voice, "I know that your break with Riley and your mother's sickness has been taking it's toll on you..."

The blonde shook her head slightly as she handed him the final clean dish. "I don't know. I've been thinking about taking a break or something."

Buffy leaves the kitchen, avoiding Giles as she heads into the living room to the maroon couch. Giles quickly follows his slayer, sitting next to her. "Buffy?"

The blonde holds herself defensively and looks him right in the eye, "I've been feeling kind of uneasy about stuff…"

"Like what?"

"Training, slaying…All of it. I mean I can beat up demons until the cows come home, and then I can beat up the cows, but I'm not sure I like what it's doing to me."

"But you've mastered so much" he reasoned, seeing all the good that she has done, "Your strength and resilience are –"

"Yea" interrupted Buffy, "strength and resilience, those are like words for hardness. I'm starting to feel like being the Slayer is sort of turning me to stone."

Giles stares at her in confusion, wondering about what she really means, "Turning you to stone? Buffy…?"

Standing up, Buffy starts pacing around the living room, trying to describe what she's feeling into words. "I'm just…look, think about it. I was never really THERE for Riley, not like I was for Angel. I was terrible to Dawn…"

Giles cuts in, hoping to nip this in the bud, "Look, at a time like this you're bound to feel emotionally numb –"

"Before that" she continues, "Riley … well he asked for a break because I was shut done, and now he's just…I don't know" she shakes her head, "and with mom…it just…it's so much. I couldn't feel and I still can't. I don't know. To slay, to kill you have to be kind of hard inside. Maybe being the perfect Slayer means being too hard to love at all. I already feel like I can hardly say the words."

"Buffy."

The blonde slayer takes a gulp of air and starts saying, "I love you, Giles. Love love love. Giles. YUCK. IT feels strange."

"How serious are you about this?"

"Ten. Serious to the amount of ten."

"There is something. In the Watcher's Diaries. A quest."

Buffy sits down, working out what the quest is. "A quest…like find a grail or something?"

"Not a grail. Maybe some answers. It would take a day or perhaps two. As your Watcher, I'd be part of it. There's an incantation."

"Okay" nods Buffy, "But I can't leave Dawn alone here…not with Glory looking for her."

"Sure you can" said Dawn, walking in to interrupt them. She sits down, looking at Giles in perplexity.

"What's the deal?" she asks, hoping to get an honest answer."

"A quest. Some of the Slayers before Buffy found it helpful in regaining their focus."

"But I can't go" said Buffy to Dawn, "I'm not leaving you here."

"If you need to learn…" Dawn said, her maturity showing, "I mean if it'll help you out. I think you should do it. I can hang with the gang."

Buffy looks caringly at her younger sister, unsure of what to do.

"I'll be okay" Dawn reassured her sister.

"I love you, Dawn. You know that right?" she asks, smoothing her sister's hair down.

"Yea, I love you too."

"I love you…" Buffy emphasized, "Really love you."

Dawn chuckles nervously and gives her sister a creeped out smile, "Getting' weird…"

"Sorry…But it's important that I tell you. Weird love is better than no love."

**—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

"Some say it's better than the real thing" oogled Spike.

"Better than the real thing" echoed Warren.

The peroxide vampire licks his lips as his eyes roam up and down the Buffybot's body that was dressed in Buffy's stolen clothes. A leather jacket and a flouncy skirt. Warren starts packing the rest of his belongings, eager to get away from Spike.

"She looks good" observes Spike, "but what about the rest? A little talk, a little walk, perhaps a zippy cartwheel…?"

"Hey she's great. You'll be real happy. I swear. She's got everything you asked for, the extra programming, tons of real world knowledge, the profiles you gave me about her family and friends."

"All the extra programming, right?" leered Spike, thinking about all the things he asked for.

"The stuff you wanted" said Warren, uncomfortable now, "The scenario responses, the, you know…special skills, all of it. Now, you said I could leave town when she's done, and she's done…"

Warren tries to get through his front door but Spike was conveniently in front of it so Warren attempted to edge through while Spike lusted after the robot. Without taking his eyes off of her, Spike grabs Warren's collar, stopping him.

"Wait. I'm not sure I'm a satisfied customer. She looks a bit shiny to me. You know, a touch of plasticine…"

Suddenly, Buffybot's eyes open and recognizes Spike. Immediately throwing herself to him she chants "Spike! Oh, Spike!" She grabs him by the shoulders and pulls him to her in a steamy and through kiss. Meanwhile, Warren escapes in a hurry.

"She'll do" gasps Spike when Buffybot stops.

**—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

"OH MY GOD!" screamed Dawn as she jumped up and down in glee, "You're coming, you're really coming? Like now?"

Faith rubbed her ear after hearing Dawn's squeals through the phone, but despite her pain she smiled, "Yea little D gonna come by today."

"When when when?"

"Give or take 4 hours."

"Really? Oh my god, we have so much stuff to do! I can't wait to see you!"

"Same here squirt, and some of my friends here really wanna meet ya."

"Friends? From chee- Uh…cheerios?" covered Dawn.

Faith's eyebrows knitted in confusion and she was questioning the girl's sanity at this point. "Cheerios?"

"Uh you know…" fibbed Dawn, "Like, from the breakfast …club or something"

"Ooookay…" said Faith, "I have to leave now though, I'll see you in a few squirt."

"Okay!"

Dawn giddily hung up the phone and clapped her hands together, happy that her friend was coming over. Hearing Dawn's excited squeals, Joyce comes into the room and smiles at her daughter, glad that she could be happy again.

"Honey who was that?"

"Faith! She's coming here in a couple hours!"

Joyce's face lights up at the mention of the girl, she always liked Faith but then her smile turns into a slight frown. "Oh…but Buffy isn't here."

"Sooo?" said Dawn in the jealous sisterly way.

"Dawn" admonished Joyce.

"What? She always hogs Faith, it's time that I got her to myself" justified Dawn.

"Well, maybe Faith can stay here until Buffy comes back."

"Really?" squeaked Dawn…again. "Thank you mommy!" she jumps up and hugs Joyce, but then goes around jumping around the house. "It's gonna be so great!"

Joyce just shakes her head in amusement, but has a bright smile across her lips. The house was going to be bundling with activity and she was so happy to see her daughter acting like a child again.

**—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

Laying on the crypt floor, Spike was exhausted from his fantasy session with the Buffybot. The Buffybot zipped up her skirt and donned on her jacket.

"Time to Slay" she stated, with a determined look.

"Yeah…mmmppphm…" muttered Spike as he slept on, deader to the world.

Running out of the mausoleum she shouts, "Okay! Vampires of the world, beware!"

The robot slayer idly twirled her stake in her right hand while she stalked the cemetery for any signs of evil beings in the night. Casually walking like an innocent little girl, she raced over to the cemetery entrance when she spotted two familiar faces.

"Hey there!" she announced, grinning widely as Xander and Anya opened the gate to join her.

"Buffy?" said Xander, confusion etched on his face.

The Buffybot scanned through her files, looking for any recognition of the man before her. She highlights the label "Xander" and categories popped out: friend, carpenter, Anya.

"Xander!" she exclaimed in recognition, "and…" she said while she scoured her database and found Anya to display: dates Xander, likes money, ex-demon, "…Anya! How's your money?" she politely asks.

Xander looks a bit confused at Buffybot's demeanor but Anya does not notice anything worng, "Fine" answered Anya, "Thank you for asking."

Her attention wavered and Buffybot looks around the dark cemetery, observing. "Isn't it a beautiful night for killing evil things?" she wonders out loud.

"I guess…" said a perplexed Xander.

"You're back early" observed Anya.

Xander looked over at Buffybot, "Yeah, how was the whole vision quest experienced?"

Not comprehending, Buffybot said, "I don't understand that question, but thank you for asking! You're my friend and a carpenter."

"Are you all right?" asked a concerned Xander, "You're all…I'm liking the skirt, by the way…but what happened to the quest?"

Before Buffybot could answer, Spike bumbled towards them, his clothes haphazardly thrown on in his haste to find his sexbot. "Hey there!" he exclaims, out of breath, "Wait up!"

A bright, room-lighting smile appears on Buffybot's face and she gleefully exclaimed "Spike! It's Spike and he's wearing the coat!"

The nervous vampire cleared his throat, facing the two scooby's, "Yes. Um. Hello all. Buffy came back early, I see. Lots of patrolling all 'round tonight then, is it?" he stammered, hoping that they would not see through Buffybot.

Elated to see her lover, Buffybot holds Spike's hand but he flings her off to avoid suspicion. Buffybot tries to hold onto his arm but he winces, miming pain and pulls away in a hurry.

"Ow!" he screamed, "Hey! Give a fella a break Slayer. But I'm glad you're all here, 'cause…" he stuttered, coming up with a lie, "cause the place is crawling with vamps tonight. Tons of 'em. We really oughta split up."

Xander looks around the cemetery and does not see any of the so called vampires. "We haven't seen any vamps…are you sure there's-"

Twigs snapped behind them and the ominous growl of the vampires alerted them to their presence.

"You were right" stated Anya.

Surprised and glad of the interruption, Spike said, "Yea, guess so."

The three vampires charged at the four. Buffybot immediately steps in front of Spike to protect him while Xander and Anya defend themselves. A vamp lunges at Xander, trying to grab him as Anya circles around behind the vamp, a stake firmly in her right hand as she looks for an opening while Xander fought for his life. Buffybot slams her foot into the vamp's stomach, sending him flying in the air while another vampire drags around Spike.

"Spike! Be careful!" said the Buffybot.

In the bushes, Glory's henchmen watched the fake slayer, hoping to see her protect the key. The two gargoyle looking demons intently searched for any signs that the slayer would exhibit.

Xander fell to the ground and the vampire followed him down, hoping to get a bite in. The carpenter kicked him in the air and Anya used this to her advantage, staking him in the back as he flew to her, turning into dust.

Buffybot blocked three punches in succession, throwing her own right hook to the vampire's jaw, knocking him to the ground. The vampire growled in pain and anger, but was cut short by a stake to the heart.

"No! Get away from him" commanded the Buffybot while she watched her lover and the vampire fight.

Spike circled around the last vampire, bouncing on his feet as he waited for the opportune moment to arrive. The other vampire lunged at him, trying to tackle him down, but the peroxide vampire grabbed his head and twisted it straight off, leaving a pile of dust on the ground. The bot smiled at the peroxide vampire and Spike walked over to Xander and Anya, wanting to get them as far away as possible.

"I think that was probably the big action for tonight. You two can toddle on home if you want" he said.

Xander looked reluctantly at Buffybot, "Um…Buffy?"

"Yes! Spike and I will do it alone. You guys head home" she said in a cheery tone.

Confused and reluctant, Xander takes Anya's hands and walk away from them. The carpenter was trying to justify Buffy's actions in his head, but nothing was connecting. Buffybot turns towards Spike and wiggles body uncomfortable, as if her own skin didn't fit. The vampire stalks the robot, eager for his custom program to begin.

"Hmmm" she mused, "I don't understand this. I did the Slaying…I should be…"

"Satisfied" he finished for her, leering her.

"But I'm not" she continued, still uncomfortable, "I'm all…my skin is hot. Do I look hot to you?"

"Always" he replied, licking his lips.

"You better feel me to make sure" she answered as if she were in a cheap porno film.

"I can do that."

Buffybot grabs his neck and kisses him with passion while Spike's hands roam across her body. He eagerly returns the kiss, groping her butt and fondling her breasts while the robot moans into his mouth.

Walking outside the fence of the cemetery, Anya coughs and grimaces at the taste in her mouth. "Phfft…I breathed in like a quart of vampire dust. That can't be good."

Xander on the other hand, looks distracted as he wrings his hands. "I wish Giles told us they were back from the dessert. I wish I knew what went on there."

"Oh you know, Slayer-Watcher stuff. Probably some silly ritual with an enchanted prairie dog or something."

"What it was, I think she's still a little spacey…"

"She fought okay"

"Yea…" said Xander, but then he suddenly stops and turns to Anya, "She never asked about Dawn."

Anya nods her head, "That's true…"

"Something's wrong" he said, doubling back to the cemetery. A few minutes later, Anya and Xander are near where the fight took place.

"I think this is where we were" said Anya.

Xander looks around, not seeing his friend, "I guess she went –"

He's interrupted by a noise, specifically a grunt.

"I heard something" said Anya, going through the bushes to where she hard the noise.

"Oh Spike!" moans the Buffybot.

Xander turns to the moan and dragged Anya with him. He freezes and drops his mouth in surprise. They see the Buffybot straddling Spike, her skirt pooled around them while they have sex in the open.

"You're the Big Bad!" screams Buffybot, "You're the Big Bad!"

**—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

Willow and Tara were sitting on the couch in Xander's apartment. They were all crashing at his place since Buffy was away at the Quest and they were all waiting for Faith and her friends to come by. Even though Dawn wanted to stay at her own place, Joyce had an emergency errand to run for the gallery and they all decided that Xander's place was big enough for a huge slumber party when the dark Slayer and her friends would arrive. Dawn wanted to wait for Faith, but she was too tired and had fallen asleep in the bedroom. The two witches were watching the History Channel now, and the redhead looks really upset.

"Those darn Salem judges!" huffed the redhead, "With their less-Satanic- than- thou attitudes…"

"Oh. Honey. Let me change it. The Discovery channel has koala bears."

Willow changed the channel, still a frown was on her face. "I wonder when Faith is gonna come…she was supposed to be here an hour ago."

Tara rubs her lover's arm, placating Willow, "Maybe there's a lot of traffic, don't worry honey, she'll come."

"You're gonna love her Tara, she's awesome" said Willow, now smiling.

A knock on the front door interrupted the witches, before they could get up to answer it, it opened to reveal their favorite brunette slayer and her friends. She carried a duffel bag on her shoulder while the blonde had a suitcase and the boy had a backpack on.

"Miss me?" asked Faith, the ever present smirk on face.

Willow jumped off the couch with Tara and threw herself in Faith's outstretched arms. "You're here!" squealed the witch, happy to finally see her friend again.

"Hey Red, don't think you're honey is gonna like you all over me" teased Faith.

Tara shyly looked at the group and smiled. She blushed considerably when Faith winked at her but knew that Faith was a harmless flirt now. Willow unwrapped her self from Faith and playfully slugged her shoulder. "Shut up" she said.

"Aww…don't worry about that Red, I'd include your girl any time" she said, and then turned towards Tara. "I'm guessing you're Tara or else Red has got some serious explaining to do."

The blonde witch nodded her head and stretched out her hand, "H-hi…i=it's nice to finally meet you. I've heard a-a lot about you" she stuttered, nervous about meeting the slayer.

Faith grabbed her hand and immediately pulled her in for a big hug, "Come here you!" she said, displaying a whole different side of her.

"Omph" said Tara, the wind getting hugged out of her. From what she heard before, Faith was very distant and did not have physically contact unless it involved flirting, but this was a friendly hug and did not include wandering or groping hands.

Willow looked on with awe, wondering what happened to the angsty teenager she once knew, but also knew that Faith had changed a lot since she reunited with her family. Faith released the blonde witch and stood back, Torrance hooked her arm around Faith's and smiled brightly at the witches. Willow raised an eyebrow at this affectionate display and stored this at the back of her mind.

"Hello!" said a jubilant Torrance, "I'm Torrance and I'm guessing you two must be Willow and Tara."

The two witches nodded and smiled at the new comer. Les stepped up and gave them a heart warming smile, showing his boyish charms to the witches.

"I'm Les, it's good to meet you both lovely ladies" he drawled out.

Faith lightly punched him in the arm and he laughed it out, until Faith punched him again, this time harder. The boy winced and pouted as he rubbed his arm, but Faith didn't pay him any attention.

"Where do we put our stuff?" she asked the witches.

"Uhh…probably just in the bedroom or something, but Dawn is sleeping in there, so be very quiet. Like tiny mice."

"Aight."

The three high school kids went down the hallway to put away their bags, in the meantime, the witches sat back down comfortably on the couch. Tara laid her head on Willow's shoulder and smiled at her lover while Willow interlaced their fingers.

"She seem's nice…and her friends too" said Tara.

"Mmmhmm…but" whispered Willow, "You think that her and…uhm…Torrance are together?"

Tara was interrupted when the front door opened again and Xander stomped in, his face full of shock and surprise while Anya trailed behind him.

"Where's Dawn?" he asked.

Tara sat up and nodded towards the bedroom, "She's in the bedroom. She fell asleep."

"Good" he answered.

"What's going on?" asked a concerned Willow.

"Buffy's gone insane" he bluntly said.

"What? What did she do?"

"Brace yourself," he emphasized with his hands, "You're not gonna believe it."

"Everyone, before you jump all over her" reasoned Tara, showing insight, "people do when strange things when someone they love almost dies. Before my mother died, I did some pretty dumb stuff, lying to my folks and staying out all night-"

Anya cut in, "Buffy's boinking Spike."

Everyone's mouth was agape, trying to comprehend the situation. Willow spoke up first, taking her girlfriend's words to heart and struggled to understand Buffy's position, "Oh…well Tara's right, we shouldn't judge –"

"What are you kidding?" disrupted Tara, looking at all of them, "She's nuts!"

"It's not health, we're all agreeing there" said Willow.

"What can we do?" asked Tara.

Anya using her newly acquired pop culture, answered, "In the movies, when someone goes crazy, they slap 'em."

"I'm gonna go find her, talk to her" said Xander, "if she's losing it, we need to help her before she gets herself hurt."

Tara, being the more peaceful one inquired, "you aren't really going to slap her…are you?"

"No" began Xander, "but if I have to see her straddle Spike again I will definitely knock myself unconscious."

"No need Xan-man, I'll do it myself" said Faith, appearing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest, her face a mask of disappointment. "It's one thing to bang a vampire with a soul, but I think Buffy's necrophilia has gone a bit too far."

"Faith" said Xander, surprised to see her there, but hopeful that she can help them.

"You're the other slayer" said Anya, eyeing her up and down, "Just stay away from my Xander" she said protectively.

Faith smirked at the ex-demon, remembering all the things that Dawn had told her about Anya. She threw her hands up in the air in mock surrender and smiled at her, "No worries here Anya, I ain't gonna steal your man."

Right on cue, Torrance entered the room, a bounce in her steps while Les slung his arm around Faith's shoulders. Torrance grabbed her arm again and smiled at the group. Anya seemed to come up with her own conclusions and she beamed at Xander while eyeing the trio. "Can we try that?" she asked him.

"Huh?" he replied, not following his girlfriend's train of thought.

**—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

The real Buffy wakes up slowly to find herself lying beside a large blazing fire in the middle of the dessert. She groans from the numbness from sleeping on a rock and sits up. She blinks her eyes, getting the sleep out of them and looks out. She looks beyond the fire, but it's still the dark cold empty dessert she fell asleep to. As her eyes clear up, she notices a figure on the other side of the fire, obscured by the orange flames blowing in the wind. Buffy strains to see who it is, squinting her eyes.

"Hello? Who's there?"

A strong gust of wind blows, revealing the figure, distorted through the waves of heat. The First Slayer stalks her, training her eyes on Buffy.

**—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

The bleached vampire moans out loud, holding the Buffybot's head in place while he finishes thrusting against her. He let's her go, his body sated.

"Mmm…" he moans, closing his eyes in orgasmic pleasure.

The Buffybot wipes her mouth clean and smiles at Spike, she gets up from her kneeled position and sits down with Spike. "Should I restart the program?" she asks in a cheery tone, happy to have pleased her master.

Spike's euphoria diminishes as he looks on the perfect Buffy replica, he see's her smiling that plastic smile to him and he reaches out to gently stroke her face. "Shhh…no programs. Don't talk like that. Be Buffy."

"I am Buffy" she answers with another plastic smile.

Spike grins again and pulls Buffy to him in a scorching kiss, his member getting hard again from the feeling of Buffy's body and lips against him. She gently strokes him and smiles at him, "Should I restart the program?" she asks again. Spike's hardness level dropped considerably, now bordering on flaccid. He extracts himself from the Buffybot and zips up his pants, buckling his belt.

He looks at Buffybot, seeing the perfect imperfection. "Down there," he points to a tunnel, "And no matter what, don't come out til I get you okay?"

"Okay!" said the cheerful bot. She climbs down the tunnel as Spike dons on his coat. He glances at the Buffybot, smiling to himself, then leaves his crypt.

Spike has someone pinned against the wall in a dark alley his face masked in annoyance. The bleach blond vampire sighs out loud, careful to not hurt the person on the wall. "It's not that I'm not a satisfied customer" he says," I mean, the sex is great, phenomenal! But…she's missing something, something that makes her uniquely Buffy."

Warren struggles against Spike's hold and gulps down the imaginary lump in his throat, he stutters, "W-well, I can't really make her …more her y'know? She's just a robot! A replica of the original."

"Well then" said Spike, his frustration clearly showing, "Make her into Buffy and not a bloody robot."

"I can't do it" stammered Warren, "But, I know someone who might be able to do it."

Spike releases his hold on Warren's collar and the boy relaxes, "Take me to him then" said Spike, dragging Warren.

**—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

"I know you" said Buffy, seeing her through the fire, "You're the First Slayer."

"This is a form. I am the Guide."

Buffy processes that information but is still a bit confused, "I …have a few questions…about being the Slayer. What about…love? Not just boyfriend love-"

The Guide weaves her body around, facing Buffy through the fire. "You think you're losing your ability to love."

"I didn't say that" she said defensively, but then lowers her eyes, "Yea…"

"You're afraid that being the Slayer means losing your humanity."

"Does it?" she asks, wary of the answer.

"You are full of love. You love with all of your soul. It's brighter than the fire, blinding. That's why you pull away from it."

"I'm full of love? I'm not losing it?"

"Only if you reject it. Love is pain and the Slayer forges strength from pain."

"Yes."

"Love. Give. Forgive. Risk the pain. It is your nature. Love will bring you to your gift."

"What?" she asks, very confused now.

**—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

Faith and Xander were walking out of Spike's crypt, after coming out empty handed and finding no vampire and no Buffy. The brunette slayer twirled the stake between her fingers, edgy and twitchy for a good fight. "Well this blows" said Faith.

"Tell me about it…was hoping you'd stake him or something."

"Me too…I mean, seriously ANOTHER vamp? B's got some horrible taste, I'm starting to think she really is necrophiliac."

"I don't think it's Buffy, it must be Spike" Xander defended Buffy, "He's got all that British charm, he's strong and mysterious and sort of compact but well-muscled."

Faith gave him a sidelong glance and pursed her lips together, "You know, I'm starting to think you might be having sex with Spike."

"Cut it out Faith, I'm just trying to understand…why would Buffy do this? Spike of all people? She's gone insane."

"Have to agree with you there X-man."

He looked around the cemetery again, finding no trace of the two. "Come on, maybe they're somewhere else."

Faith nodded and they both walked on, away from Spike's crypt.

**—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

Warren led them to a nice suburban home, the genius still held by Spike around his collar. The boy walked up to the front door, clearly nervous. Spike gestured with his head to ring the doorbell. Warren did as he was gestured to and he gulped nervously.

"Can I go now?" he asked.

"Not until I get what I want."

The door opened and a boy around Warren's age peered through the crack. "Warren?" he asked,"What's going on?" he observed Spike holding onto Warren.

"Hey Michael, I have a huge favor to ask" stuttered Warren.

"What's going on?" Michael asked again, eyeing Spike.

Warren gulped again, "Michael, can we come in?"

"You brought a vampire here" he said, observing Spike.

"Yea, I get that, and now would be a good time to help me out" said Warren.

"I'm not inviting a vampire into my own home."

Spike grew impatient, "Look here Michael, either invite us in or your friend here doesn't get to see another day."

"I let you in and you'll kill us both" said Michael with a sneer.

"I promise I won't. Scouts honor" he raised up his free hand.

"I ain't trusting a vampire" he answered.

Warren sighed out loud and tried to reason with his friend, "Look Mike, remember that robot girlfriend I made?" Michael nodded and Warren continued, "Well, I made one for him too and he doesn't seem to be satisfied, wants a bit more realism in the gal and well you're the guy to go to. He won't hurt us….if we do what he says. Please, I'll owe you a huge favor!"

Michael scrutinized the two on his doorstep and came to a decision, he opened his door wider, "Come in."

**—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

"Spike?"

The Buffybot climbed out of the tunnel, looking for her lover. She looked around her, searching for him, "I waited like you said. But then I missed you…Spike?"

She went out of the crypt, looking for him.

**—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

Buffy tries to comprehend what the primitive just said, but she just doesn't understand.

"What? I'm sorry, but I'm just nto getting this. I'm full of love. Which is nice to know. And then…love will lead me to my gift?"

"Yes"

"I'm getting a gift? Or do you mean I have a gift to give to someone else?"

"Your mate will give you your gift."

"My mate…?"

"Will give you your gift" finished the primitive.

Buffy shook her head, even more perplexed. "Okay. My mate? Who's my mate? For all I know, I seem to be doomed in relationships."

**—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

Spike was standing next to the other two boys around a cauldron full of different magical ingredients. Michael was holding a burning sage on top and reciting things in Latin while Warren was just nervously looking at them both.

"So this mumbo jumbo will what exactly?" asked Spike, reluctant to trust him.

"You said you wanted the real Buffy in your little sexbot right?" asked Michael, "Well this is gonna take part of her essence and instill it in your robot."

The vampire stiffened in response to the word essence and glared at him, "Is this going to hurt Buffy?"

"Not a one" replied Michael, "We're just replicating it, not exactly taking anything from her. She'll be like the real Buffy, except…with robot parts and all those programs you wanted."

"If this hurts Buffy in any way" threatened Spike.

"It won't, it's copying her not taking anything."

"You better be right then."

Michael shook his head and continued his chanting, "Gods and Goddesses of Erotes…" he started, the cauldron growing brighter with each word he chanted. Their eyes were closing from the intense light and Michael failed to see the swirl of black and white entering his spell, changing it.

**—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

"Your mate will give you your gift" repeated the primitive, still behind the fire.

"What gift?" demanded Buffy, "And what mate? I'm not some kind of animal!"

The primitive's head looked up and saw a blinding white light encircle her before she was sucked away from Buffy, the fire extinguishing as they went away. Buffy sat there, not sure of what to think.

"Okay…that was weird" she mused.

**—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

The light in the cauldron dissipated, traveling elsewhere while the three looked at each other. Spike asked, "Did it work?"

"It's going to her right now" said Michael, while he started to clean up his magic supplies.

"You better be right" said Spike, rushing out the door to go back to his crypt, in hopes of having a almost real Buffybot waiting for him.

**—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—**

"Spike?" asked the Buffybot while she roamed around the town.

"Buffy!"

The Buffybot turned around a huge smile on her face, until it faded when she saw that Xander was rushing up to her, followed by an unknown brunette.

"Hello Xander, friend of mine. Spike is missing" she said sadly.

Faith's face turned into disgust at the mention of the vampire, "Okay seriously? What is with you and Spike blondey? I thought you were over vamps after Angel."

"Angel's lame" said Buffybot, "His hair goes straight up and he's bloody stupid."

Xander and Faith looked at each other, conveying their thoughts through eye contact.

"Okay blondey" said Faith in a placating tone, "Why Spike?"

The Buffybot looked at Faith, a small almost real smile coming up on her lips. "Hello stranger" she said in a bright tone, "You're very pretty."

"Ha ha ha" stated Faith, "You're a comedian B, real funny. Stop avoiding the question."

"Buffy?" said Xander, scared for his friend's saneness…even more now, "Are you okay? I mean, it's been maybe a year or two since Faith came by…"

"Hey!" she lightly slugged Xander on the shoulder, "I talked to her on the phone!"

"Well yea, but she hasn't seen your face in awhile, so maybe…"

The Buffybot scanned her files again, not finding anyone named Faith, but created a new folder for her.

"Hello Faith, I'm Buffy" said the bot.

"This is getting weirder …" deadpanned Faith.

A rush of silver light came rushing down the street, headed straight for the Buffybot and before anyone could react, it went right into her, filling her every switch and circuit.

"Buffy!" screamed Xander and Faith.

They both rushed to their fallen friend who was twitching from the impact. Buffybot's spasms grew shorter and weaker; suddenly her eyes opened, showing glimmering golden eyes instead of hazel. She looked at the crouched Xander, staring at her in concern and then to the brunette Slayer who now held her hand. The Buffybot snapped up and shoved Xander ten feet away from them, sliding until he hit a tree.

"What the hell?" screamed Faith, looking at Buffybot with wide eyes, "What the hell is wrong with you B?"

The Buffybot grabbed the collars of Faith's jean jacket and pulled her towards her, she looked straight into Faith's deep brown eyes, searching for something and then she found it. Faith was starting to get scared, she couldn't pry open the bot's hands and she couldn't get away.

A low pitched growl came from bot and she pulled Faith closer to her.

"Mine…" she growled again, and crushed their lips together.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Faith could only stay stock still as Buffybot crashed her lips against her own. The hands on the lapels of her jacket released its hold and the brunette tried to get away, but the blonde robot slayer snarled down her throat; she wrapped her thin arms around Faith's torso, keeping her there as she assaulted the shocked slayer. The kiss wasn't a kiss of love or caring, it was one of animalistic urges, obsession, possession and lustful. Teeth clacked together and lips were so close that they were going to bruise. Buffybot slammed Faith down on the wet grass, using her superior robotic enhanced strength to keep the girl under her, possessing her. Faith pushed up against Buffybot's shoulder but couldn't even move a centimeter; there was no space in between them to even slide in a piece of paper. The brunette looked off to the side where Xander was thrown and saw the boy starting to regain consciousness. He groaned in pain and opened his dazed eyes, only to be smacked with the image of Buffybot kissing Faith.

His initial reaction was: Ohhh….girly kissing! To…holy shit, two hot chicks with superpowers kissing! To… Buffy's kissing a girl? To…BUFFY'S KISSING FAITH? To…OH MY GOD THAT'S SO HOT… to… that's weird, Faith is waving at me?

Xander snapped out of his male-induced hormonal mind and saw that Faith was frantically waving her arms at him and saw the desperation in her eyes that she really was not enjoying the kiss. He painfully stood up, using the tree as his support while he tried to use his rubber legs. Buffybot did not like Faith moving around; she slammed Faith's arms on either side of her head and finally looked back into those expressive dark brown pools that were now glimmering in panic.

"B…" hissed Faith, her mouth bruised from Buffybot's fervor, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Buffybot's eyes were shimmering in bursting golden colors as she gazed down at Faith's dark brown eyes, piercing through Faith's soul. "Mine…" she snarled, putting more force on Faith's body, showing her who was in charge. Faith gasped from the unexpected pressure, feeling her ribs creak and groan. She knew that reasoning with 'Buffy' now would be futile. She tried again to free her arms, but that only made the feral slayer-bot release a menacing rumble from her throat and tighten her hold against Faith, bruising her skin. Buffybot's golden eyes shown brighter, boring into Faith's eyes, coaxing the Slayer within her. Faith stared into her shining eyes, mesmerized. Her pupil's dilated, pushing the dark brown irises out until all you could see was black. The brunette slayer felt something in the depths of her soul give way, unlocking itself and freeing itself. Giving full reign to the demon within, Faith's vision blurred and faded into black and white colors. Her pupils dilated back, revealing golden irises just as bright as Buffybot's. Her new senses awakened and she could feel everything around her; the worms underneath the earth, the small crunches of grass under Xander's foot as he edged towards them. She focused her attention to Buffy and what she felt made the slayer in her howl in anger. Her 'Buffy' was tainted…changed. She reined the slayer back in its internal cage and shook her head to reclaim her own senses. Faith gazed up at the Buffybot, unsure of what to think. Then she heard it…or the absence of it. Buffy didn't have a beating heart.

Her golden brown eyes widened in fury as the slayer in her glared up at the impure form of her mate above her. The slayer controlled Faith, shoving the Buffybot off of her and flipping up on her feet, staring down at the Buffybot. The Buffybot stood back up, glaring and snarling at Faith for her rejection. Golden hazel eyes stared at the brunette slayer, laying claim to Faith's body and soul through her intense gaze, but the slayer in Faith refused to be tamed by the impure essence. Launching herself at the blonde, Faith landed a right hook on Buffybot's cheek but the robot retaliated with a punch to the gut. The brunette barely felt it and grabbed Buffybot's arm, forcing the bot back into a tree, slamming her forearm down on Buffybot's throat and locking her legs with knees, capturing the Buffybot.

Faith stared down at Buffybot's golden eyes, growling at the Buffybot. A few minutes passed and Buffybot's eyes grew dimmer as did Faith's, the slayer essence in them receding back into the cages of their mind and body. Faith's grip loosened and she dropped her forearm, shaking her head to clear her mind and find her center. The Buffybot blinked innocently, ridding itself of the fogginess in her system.

"That was odd" commented the Buffybot, "Are you okay Faith?"

Faith stared incredulously at the bot and took a few steps back, studying the bot up and down while Xander stood off to the side, shocked from what he had just seen.

"So, can anybody tell me what the hell just happened?" he asked, staring at the two slayers warily.

Faith gives him a shrug of her shoulders and gives him the 'I don't know' look while the Buffybot smiles adoringly at Faith, stepping closer to the brunette. Xander looks at the girls, trying to see what was going on between them.

"Hey!" shouted Spike in the distance as he ran toward the group in a hurry after seeing his Buffybot. "Hello all" he said, looking at them, "And hello to you" he eyed Faith, giving her what he thought was a charming smirk as his eyes roamed up and down her body, his gaze lingering on Faith's ample chest.

The brunette slayer cocked her fist back and slammed her fist against Spike's cheek, making the vampire drop to the ground as he held his aching face in his cold hands.

"Well" he said, wondering why the Buffybot wasn't defending him, "That hurt."

"It could hurt a lot worse than that" said Faith, glaring at the vampire who dared to check her out. The only vampire she could tolerate was Angel, and that is only because he's doing good in the world. If he ever lost his soul, she would be the first one to try and dust him since Buffy would not be able to.

The vampire slowly stood up, still holding his throbbing cheek while he looked at Buffybot. "Buffy" he said in desperation, hoping that the blonde robot would be like the Buffy he always wanted.

Buffybot turned towards Spike, looking at him with a tilt of her head. "Hello Spike" she said in a chirpy voice.

"So uh…how are you feeling Buffy?" probed Spike, hoping that the spell worked.

"I am fine" she said in her cheery robotic voice, "You're hurt" she pointed out, "Faith punches hard."

Spike furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and looked at the brunette. "So that's your name then, what are you anyways? You aren't a human that's for sure."

Eyeing him, the brunette regarded him warily, she did not want more people to know about her presence in Sunnydale in fear that the council will find her and thrust another wet-behind-the-ears watcher and interrupt her almost watcher-like relationship with Jenny.

"Don't matter" said Faith, "Just know that I can dust your ass if you try anything funny."

Spike threw his hands up, hoping to placate the girl, "No funny business here." He looked at Buffybot again, confused about why the robot wasn't clinging to him like she normally does; in fact she barely gave him a glance. All the Buffybot's attention was focused solely on the brunette who was giving him such a menacing glare that he felt a shiver go through his vampiric demon.

"As nice as it is talking out here, in the cemetery where anything can come and get us" said Xander, "I think we should go back and talk."

"Where to X-man?"

"Magic Box would probably be better" he replied, not wanting to have Spike in his apartment.

"Well" said Spike, glancing back at Buffy, a lustful glimmer in his eyes, "I think the Slayer and I should patrol for a bit more, you know to get all the vamps."

This time, it was Xander who lost his temper at seeing the undead creature look at his friend with his disgusting lust. He grabbed Spike's coat and pushed him against the tree, threatening the vampire, "I saw you in the cemetery with Buffy" spat Xander.

Unfazed, Spike just looked uninterested at Xander's hands and at his face , "Yea? Can't see how it's any business of yours-"

The carpenter pushed harder against Spike, trying to contain his anger, "It's my business because Buffy is my friend. And she's been through some stuff lately that's…well it's affected her and you're taking advantage of her."

Faith looked at the exchange and then back at Buffybot who was still staring dotingly at her. A bit puzzled by Buffybot's demeanor, Faith shook the weird feeling off. She knew that whatever Xander said to Spike, Buffybot would probably not want to hear. "Come on" Faith said, taking Buffy's hand and pulling her to the side of the road, out of earshot from the two. The Buffybot smiled brightly at Faith's physical contact and intertwined her fingers, skipping while Faith walked with her.

Spike wanted to get this talk over with and get back to Buffybot, and hopefully have some alone time with her before the super friends start to suspect anything more. "She's upset about her mum and if she turns to me for comfort…well I'm not gonna deny it to her. I'm not a monster."

"Yes! You are a monster" pointed out Xander, "Vampires are monsters, they make monster movies about them."

"Well…yea. Got me there."

"Spike, Buffy has lots of friends and we all love her. We're ready to do whatever it takes to protect her," threatened Xander, his eyes and body language showing how much devotion he had to his friends, "And if it means killing you, then... well that's just a bonus."

At the sidewalk, Faith had just gotten off the phone with Willow, asking her to go to the Magic Box with everyone. Buffybot was clinging onto Faith's arm, just content to be with the brunette. The little robot did not know why but she felt so drawn to the brunette slayer. There was a slight pleasant humming sensation throughout her circuits whenever she was with Faith, and when they touched, the humming would turn into nice tingles. Also, she felt that she needed to claim Faith as her own, no one should be around her Faith and she would make sure of that. Laying her head on Faith's shoulder, the Buffybot smiled wider and held Faith's arm tighter against her body.

Faith on the other hand, had no idea what to do. She looked down at Buffybot and let her be. The slayer tingles that she got from the Buffybot was different, it seemed fractured and out of balance, as if it were forced into her. She wasn't sure if this was actually Buffy, but the slayer in her recognized Buffy so she did not have anything to go on but her own gut instincts telling her this Buffy was very strange. She also accounted the sex with Spike and wondered if this was why she did it. Something was very out of whack with Buffy and she intended to find out why.

The brunette glanced at Xander, who had let go of Spike and was stomping towards them, an angry scowl on his face. Spike fixed his clothes and trodded towards them, a smirk on his lips.

"What's up?" he asked Faith, nodding his heads towards Buffybot, who had closed her eyes and was snuggling up to Faith.

"Nothing" said Faith, "Just called Red to go to the Magic Box, they should be there in 10."

Xander nodded his head and the group walked to the Magic Box, Spike slightly lingering behind while he tried to make sense of what was going on with his robot. She was supposed to be "Buffy"…and cling to **him**, not the scary brunette who seemed to be capable and would be willing to stake him without a moment's hesitation.

– **O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O– O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – **

Willow unlocked the door to the Magic Box with her spare key and let everyone inside. She quickly closed the door in fear of some creepy demons forcing their way in. When she turned around, Tara held onto her hand and smiled at her lover, reassuring the redhead. They sat at the round table, surrounded by books researching Glory, with Dawn, Lester and Torrance. The two newcomers looked around the shop, in awe of all the real magical ingredients and books around them.

"Ohh!" cooed Torrance, excitedly getting off her chair and looking at one of the shelves, "Newt's eye!" she grabbed the jar off the shelf, a gleeful innocence while she looked on at the eyeballs, "I didn't know these actually existed." She shook the jar, looking at all the small eyes before setting it back down on the shelf. Anya came around from the cash register, wary of the blonde with her merchandise.

"Don't touch that if you're not going to buy it" she said, eyeing the blonde who was currently hitting Lester with some chicken's feet.

The blonde bashfully put the chicken feet back on the shelf, feeling like a chastised child and sat back next to Dawn, an adorable pout on her lips. Satisfied that the girl would not damage her merchandise, Anya went back to the cash register to double check some of her earnings and to recount her money. Dawn scooted closer to the girl, whispering, "Don't worry about Anya, she's just like that…a bit blunt. She was an ex-demon, so she doesn't know that many rules about human emotions and stuff."

"Ex-demon?" she whispered back, her interest piqued. Next to her, Lester moved closer to the girls and wanted to be a part of the gossip.

"Yea" answered Dawn with a nod, "She was a vengeance demon for a thousand years or something, but now she's with Xander."

Lester and Tor nodded their understanding and cautiously looked over their shoulder at the ex-demon who smelled the cash from the register. They gave Dawn a puzzled look and the young girl looked over their shoulder, "Oh" said Dawn, "She really likes money."

Again, the pair could only nod again.

"How come you guys know about demons and stuff?" asked Dawn, genuinely interested in how normal people would come to know about the supernatural world.

"Well, we thought that Missy was dating some biker or drug dealer or something" said Tor, "So we followed her at night, you know just to like keep her safe and tell her to stop seeing the guy. Turns out we were totally wrong…we followed her to the cemetery and then saw this huge deformed guy and thought, oh my god, Missy is into guys into drugs or something like that or she was getting ambushed or something. But like, we were wrong, she wailed on that guy and then staked him! So, we drilled her about vampires and she told us she was a slayer…and we wanted to help. Cause real monsters at night? A bit scary, but it's something…it's something that should be done."

The three native Sunnydalers stared at Torrance as if she were from another world; the blonde looked back at them, "What?" she asked uncomfortable with their stares.

All three voices asked, "Who's Missy?"

– **O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O– O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – **

When the trio got back to the Magic Box, Willow immediately whisked her friend away, hoping to understand the situation and why Buffy would ever want to sleep with Spike. She closed the behind her while they talked in the training room, away from prying ears. Buffybot stared at Willow, pulling up the necessary information needed to interact with the redhead. Willow – Best Friend – Gay (1999-Present) – Witch – Good with computers

"Um…Buffy? This thing with Spike…" said Willow, jumping straight into the topic instead of dillydallying around, "It isn't true, is it? You didn't really, you know…sleep with Spike." The redhead hoped that it was all a misunderstanding.

"No" said the Buffybot, shaking her head. Willow released a big sigh of relief and her body was free of all tension and stress that this business caused her…until Buffybot continued. "But I had sex with Spike" she said with a smile, "I'm sorry if it bothers you. You're my best friend."

"I-I am" stuttered Willow, still unwilling to believe what she heard, "I always will be…too, no matter what you do. And I'm trying to figure out why this happened. I think maybe, with your mom and everything, everyone was being all sympathetic, making you feel weak. And Spike wasn't like that. So, just this one time, you kind of did something crazy-" she rationalized, once again trying to put Buffybot's behavior in a normal sense.

"It wasn't one time. It was lots of times. And lots of different ways. I could make sketches" said Buffybot, trying to help her friend understand .

"No! Buffy, there's something seriously wrong here!" said Willow, her face strewn in disgust. "I mean, yea, you've been with a vampire before. But Angel had a soul-"

As programmed, whenever the vampire with the soul came up, she would reply, "Angel's lame. His hair goes straight up and he's bloody stupid."

A bit weirded out by Buffy's response, Willow could only say, "O-okay. Look, I just want to help you. Let me help you." The redhead tried to be the best friend that Buffy needed.

"You're my best friend" stated Buffybot.

"Yes, again, I really am. And I think maybe you need to talk to someone about this. A professional-"

"And you're recently gay!" exclaimed the Buffybot.

"Um…what?"

Before the Buffybot could exhaust all the information that was given by Spike, Faith opened the door and looked at the pair.

"Hey B, can I talk to Red for a bit?"

"Red!" said Buffy, "The color of Willow's hair. Okay Faith." The Buffybot did not move, she just stared at Faith with a bright smile covering her face at seeing the younger slayer.

"Uhh...I'd like to talk to Red…alone."

"Oh…shall I go inside?"

Faith nodded her head at the Buffybot and she gleefully stepped towards Faith, brushing her hand against the younger girl as she left.

"What's wrong Faith?"

The young brunette's eyebrows were creased with worry, "I think there's something wrong with Buffy."

"Well, yea" said Willow in a -duh!- expression, "She's sleeping with Spike! Multiple times, she even wanted to give me sketches!" she said in a shrilly voice, starting to hyperventilate.

"Red relax" said Faith, patting her on the back, "I think there's something more to it…I don't think that's B."

"What do you mean? But…who or what else could Buffy be? She looks like Buffy, talks…kind of like Buffy. But she's been through a lot, and I'm not surprised if she does crazy things…but not the sleeping with Spike crazy…"

Faith shrugged her shoulders, "Something doesn't feel right, she just…doesn't seem right. I know I haven't been around for that long, but this doesn't feel like B."

Willow just nodded her head, unsure about how to process this information. Too many things were happening and now that Faith was questioning Buffy's identity, it was getting to be too much.

"I don't know Faith, but we'll get to the bottom of this. Things have been pretty whacky lately."

Inside the Magic Box, the Buffybot had only gone right outside the door, dutifully waiting for her mate to come back out so that she could feel the brunette again. Spike had inconspicuously sidled next to the blonde robot, hopefully to get the robot and himself out of the Magic Box before the real Buffy comes back to kick his ass. He noticed the weird way that his robot has been clutching the brunette, and wondered what had gone wrong with the spell.

"Hello Buffy" he said in his suave British accent.

The robot turned towards him and smiled, "Hello Spike, you are wearing your coat today."

"Uh, yes I am, so uh" he nervously said, darting his eyes towards the scoobies who were immersed in discussion with the newcomers he did not have the time to get to know, "What do you say we get out of here Buffy? Go back to my crypt and ease some…tension."

"Thank you for the offer Spike, but I am waiting for Faith. She's talking to Willow and will be back shortly."

"Now come on slayer, what's gotten into you?" he said, tugging on the robot's arm, "I can satisfy you in more ways than that little gal can."

In a mere few seconds, Buffybot's hazel eyes flashed a brilliant gold and she shoved Spike so quickly and forcefully that the vampire did not have any time to defend himself, he flew across the shop and fell into a heavy shelf full of books. Fortunately, Giles and Anya had invested in heavier weight bookshelves because of how the cheap ones always broke, so the shelf stayed intact when Spike slammed against it, but all the heavy textbooks slid off and dropped on Spike after he fell to the ground. The bleached blonde vampire was stunned and didn't move when all the books fell on top of his head, burying him in a mountain full of heavy magic books. The vampire had fainted from the books knocking him out, but the Buffybot still glared at him. Everyone in the Magic Box stared slack-jawed at the sudden displayed violence.

Buffybot's eyes were still glowing with only flecks of gold but her stare was that of a slayer, like Buffy Summer's glare before she dusted a vampire that she despised. "Don't you dare talk about Faith that way" said Buffybot, her voice sounding like Buffy instead of Buffybot.

Faith and Willow ran back into the room after hearing the commotion and heard Buffybot's declaration. The brunette calmly walked over to Buffybot and laid a hand on her shoulder, in an instant Buffybot had Faith wrapped in a tight hug. The younger slayer had no choice but to hold Buffybot since the robot wasn't giving her any other way out.

"Uhhm…B? Why'd you throw the vamp?"

The only response the blonde robot gave was to bury her head deeper into Faith's neck and inhale her scent. Faith looked at everyone else in the shop who could only give her a shrug in response; they weren't paying attention to them. Xander looked absolutely delighted that Buffy threw Spike into a shelf and could not stop the beaming smile.

"As nice as this is" said Anya, interrupting the awkward silence, "Why are we here? There are plenty of beauty sleep and potential orgasms that I'm missing out on!"

The Sunnydalers gave the out of towners a small smile at Anya's outburst, but the three high school children just had an amused smile. Xander motioned for Faith to take Buffybot back into the training room or outside the shop so that they could have a discussion about Buffy's little problem. Willow whispered to Torrance to take Dawn with them to the training room too. The San Diego natives took the protesting girl to the training room with Faith and her supposed sister. When they were gone, the front door of the shop opened and Giles came in, surprised that everyone was gathered there.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, assuming the worse.

"Something, very big" replied Xander.

"What's wrong?" asked Giles, his face full of grave concern.

"It's about Buffy" said Willow, worried for her friend but knowing she had to tell Giles this no matter how uncomfortable the old watcher would be.

"What about her?"

"W-well…" stuttered Willow, "It's like this, we're not trying to judge or anything, but this has gone way out of hand and we need a sane Buffy not insane-o girl…"

"Buffy's boinking Spike" clarified Anya, who was tired of everyone sugar-coating it.

"I beg your pardon?" asked Giles, pulling off his glasses to furiously rub his already clean spectacles. He tried to not basically picture his daughter doing the deed with another vampire.

"Was that not clear?" Anya asked Xander, "Buffy's having sex with Spike" she said again, hoping that the old man would finally understand.

"Yes Anya, I understood what you said" said the watcher, "But…no that's, I can't believe that."

Then Buffy comes into the shop, startled to see all her friends in the shop in the middle of the night. "Whoa, group hang time."

The group except Giles was surprised to see Buffy there…in different clothing.

"That was …quick" said Willow, wondering why Faith let her out.

"Didn't seem like it to me. My mate will bring me to my gift. Pffah!"

"Buffy, we need to talk" said Xander, hoping to resolve the issue.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her worst fears coming to surface, "Is Dawn okay?"

"She's fine" reassured Willow.

"Buffy, we care about you. And we're worried about you. The way you're acting, the things you're doing…"

"It's wrong" finished Anya.

"Wait" said Willow, she did not want to make this into an argument. "This shouldn't be about blame."

A very confused Buffy replied, "Blame? There's blame now?"

"No, there's only love…and some fear" said Willow.

Anya cut in, "We're just thrown by the, you having sex with Spike."

Now Buffy was very confused and starting to get angry, "The who whatting how with huh?"

"Okay that's denial. That usually comes before anger" explained Anya.

Buffy bellowed out, "I am not having sex with Spike!"

"Anger"

Xander cut in, "No one is judging you. It's understandable. Spike is strong and mysterious and sort of compact but well-muscled-" Buffy just looked at him, her face starting to resemble the look of disgust.

"I am not having sex with Spike, but I'm starting to think that you might be" she accused.

"Buffy. I saw you. Anya too. We saw you and Spike…with the straddling."

– **O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O– O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – **

Inside the training room, Dawn was having the time of her life, she was having fun with Torrance and Lester, finally having some time to be young again. They all sat around in a circle on the floor, talking like high school kids should be. Buffybot was leaning against Faith, her arm around Faith's arm while Faith sat next to Torrance.

"Okay, so we're at the regionals right?" began Torrance, animatedly talking about cheerleading while Faith was blushing that the young Summer's knew about her extracurricular activity. "And we bought this routine from a Sparky because we couldn't use a stolen routine right? But guess what, the other team before us had already done that routine! That damn Sparky was selling the same routine to all the high schools, it was so embarrassing!"

"Oh no!" said Dawn, "But you guys won 2nd place in nationals right?"

"Uh huh! Fair and square. And I got Missy to thank, if it wasn't for her, I don't think I would've made it" she gave Faith a friendly tap to the shoulder.

"I've been meaning to ask you" said Dawn to Faith, "Are you Faith or Missy?"

Faith buried her face in her hands but reluctantly explained, "Okay, my real name is Missy Faith Pantone. I had to use my middle name to register for shit because I had to remain anonymous from the council. I came to Sunnydale as Faith Lehane, I used my watcher's last name."

"Oh…then should I call you Faith…or Missy?" asked Dawn.

"Faith sounds way cooler doesn't it?" she drawled, "Missy just sounds so…girly."

"Says the cheerleader" laughed Les.

"Hey!" she lightly slugged his shoulder, but had a smile on her lips.

"I wanna see you cheer!" screeched Dawn,.

"Hell no."

"Pretty please?" Dawn pleaded with a practiced Summer's pout.

"Nope" said Faith, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Don't worry" whispered Torrance, "I have videos."

"Tor…" Faith said with a warning tone, "Don't you dare."

Torrance stuck her tongue out at the young girl and immediately ran up to escape the onslaught of tickles that she knew Faith would dish out.

"Get back here!" screamed Faith, rushing up and chasing the blonde cheerleader around the room.

The Buffybot tilted over from the loss of her pillow, she pouted and watched as her Faith chased a blonde that should be her. Torrance saw her only way out and she opened the door before Faith could use her slayer speed to chase her, but the blonde stopped dead in her tracks at the tense atmosphere in the shop. Faith could barely stop and she crashed into her friend, toppling them both to the ground.

"Uhh…hi!" said Faith, trying to get back some of her dignity as she got off of Torrance. As her eyes scanned the group, she suddenly froze and stared at Buffy.

"Faith?" said Buffy, looking at her sister slayer and the blonde who was standing next to her.

Faith only continued to stare at her, her eyebrows furled in confusion. "B?"

Then, the Buffybot came out of the training room, missing Faith. "Faith? Where are you?"

Everyone froze once again, looking from the Buffybot to Buffy, seeing them to be identical.

"Oh my god" said Buffy, seeing a reflection of herself.

"And so say all of us" said Xander.

"Say, look at you! You look like me! We're very pretty."

Willow staring at them, "Two of them!"

"Hey!" said a excited Xander, thinking the solved the problem, "I know this! They're BOTH Buffy!"

"No" denied buffy. "She's a robot. She acts just like that girlfriend-bot that Warren guy made! You guys couldn't tell me apart from a **robot**?"

The Buffybot, mildly skeptical about her origins, "Oh…I don't think I'm a robot."

"She's very well done" admired Anya.

The Buffybot smiled at Anya for the compliment while Buffy seethed, trying to think about who would do such a thing.

"Spike must have had her built so he could program her to…" deduced Xander, stopping before he could gross anyone out.

"Oh God" said Buffy, looking as if she were about to puke from this horrible horrible idea.

"Yikes…" said Willow, staring at the Buffybot, "Imagine the things-"

"No! No imagining, any of you!"

Xander raised his hand, sheepishly looking at Buffy, "Already got the visual."

Buffybot just stared at the group, and then walked over to Faith again, holding the girl's hand. Buffy stared at their linked hands, then up at Faith who could only shrug in response. Xander saw the exchange and then remembered he forgot something else, the Spike issue was just too big for him to handle.

"Oh yea…and then she kissed Faith."

"Who kissed Faith?" asked Buffybot possessively, "Faith is mine!"

The brunette slayer did not know what to do; she tried to pry her hand out of the iron grip of the Buffybot, but was finding that she the Buffybot had quite a good grip.

"She what now?" asked Buffy, starting to get angry at the Buffybot, but wasn't sure why she had this growing anger inside of her.

"Faith has really nice lips" stated Buffybot, "Can we kiss again?"

The look of horror that flashed on Faith's face made Buffy's heart sink, she didn't want the younger girl to feel that kissing her…or her look alike would make her disgusted. Before anything else could come up, Spike turned in his mound of books and groaned, rubbing his swelling head. Everyone's eyes turned towards him, with the exception of Buffybot who was busy staring at Faith's luscious lips.

Spike opened his eyes, to see very angry glares at him, he wanted to give them a witty response, but then he spotted the real Buffy, who looked like she was about to stake him and then back at the Buffybot who couldn't even spare him a glance.

"Oh Bloody Hell."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The real blonde slayer pulled out a few more blankets and pillows from the cupboard and handed it to Faith, who carried the growing pile of bed linens in her arms. The San Diego crew decided to stay over at Buffy's place since they had extra room and Buffy wanted to keep an eye on the Buffybot; since the bot followed Faith everywhere, Buffy reasoned to them that it was the most logical thing to do, except the true reason was that she had this irrational desire to just be around the younger slayer. They all separated and went to their respective homes after the debacle in the Magic Box. Once Spike started to speak, Buffy leapt from the ground and tackled the blonde vampire back into the mound of books, strangling him even though he didn't need any air. Spike was still sputtering and gasping even though he didn't need to breathe but the fear of her snapping his neck was pretty big. All the Scoobies ran to the pair, hoping to break up the fight even though they despised the neutered vampire; they still felt that the vampire was of use and helped them fight the good fight. When no one could pry them apart, Faith swooped in and forcefully tugged Buffy away from Spike and gripped the blonde slayer in a desperate hug so that she would not go after him again. Even though Faith had pulled her away, Buffy still flailed her arms and legs, trying to attack him again.

"_Faith let go!" Buffy screamed, her fists and foot hitting air as the brunette lifted her up, "I'm gonna kill him! Let go Faith!"_

_The brunette carried the blonde into the training room and left Spike for the Scoobies to handle. She kicked the door shut and still held Buffy around her stomach as the blonde started to calm down. Soon the blonde slayer slumped against Faith, her energy sapped from her as she breathed in ragged breaths and leaned against the younger girl. _

"_You alright?" asked Faith, still holding onto her friend._

"_Yea…" whispered Buffy, "That's just…God, can you…that's just disgusting…"_

"_I know B, I know. Tell ya what" reasoned Faith, "Tomorrow, if ya still wanna beat his ass, I won't stop you."_

"_Don't know why you stopped me now…" she grumbled._

_Faiths slipped her arms away from Buffy and took a step back, the blonde instantly missed those powerful arms around her torso and turned around to look at her sister slayer. _

"_Didn't want ya to kill him yet, heard he was useful."_

_The door bursted open before Buffy could deny the fact that Spike was of any use to them. Buffybot strolled in and immediately clung back onto Faith, holding onto her arm and snuggling into the brunette's side. _

"_I know I wasn't supposed to come in here" said the bot in a small but shy voice, "But I missed you."_

_The strong urge to rip the bot's arms off and beat her back into a pile of circuits and wires erupted in Buffy, but she contained herself. Although, she couldn't stop glaring at the robot that stole her face and feel the sting of jealousy that she misconstrued as disgust. The bot never took her eyes off of the brunette and Faith didn't have the heart to tear herself away from the bot that was so fascinated with her. It was in this moment that Buffy decided that she needed to keep an eye on Faith and the bot at all times, she reasoned that it was only so that the bot wouldn't run back to Spike; but really, she didn't want the bot getting closer to Faith before she could, but that was locked up in the back of her mind, deep deep into her unconsciousness. _

"B?" said Faith, watching as Buffy stared off into space while clutching on pillow in the cupboard. "B" she repeated.

"Huh?" mumbled a dazed Buffy. The blonde quickly shook her head, ridding her of the memory and getting back to reality. She saw the pillow in her hand and quickly gave it to Faith, who had a bundle of blankets and pillows in our arms. "Um. I think that's all" said Buffy.

"You alright twinkie?"

Buffy offered the concerned brunette a small but reassuring smile and a nod of her head to signal that she was feeling fine. "I'm good" said the blonde.

"You sure?"

"Yea, now come on. After all the excitement tonight I'm sure you're tired."

The brunette nodded briefly and followed her sister slayer to Joyce's bedroom. Since Joyce was staying at a hotel in Los Angeles until she confirmed a shipment for the gallery, she told the girls to have the guests stay in her room instead of making them go to a motel or sleep on the uncomfortable couch. Lester opted to sleep on the couch in the living room so that the girls could have Joyce's bedroom to themselves. Faith gave the brunette boy a set of pillows and blankets.

"You sure you're alright here Les?" Faith asked, a bit guilty to have him down on the couch.

"Don't worry about it Miss" he smiled, "I'm a big boy, I can handle the couch for a couple of nights."

Faith nodded mutely but did not want to argue anymore, they were all tired and she just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep. "You sure Les?"

"I'm sure as sure can be" he grinned again, showing her his goofy but adorable smile.

The brunette slayer smiled back in return and hugged the boy, "Night Les."

"Good night."

Buffy, being the good hostess that she was, led Faith to Joyce's room; her actual intentions were to see how exactly Faith was going to handle the Buffybot. The brunette strolled through into Joyce's room, looking at the Buffybot who had on an adorable set of penguin dotted flannel pajamas, courtesy of the other Chosen One who reluctantly surrendered her pair of pajamas when the Buffybot squealed at the sight of them. She was just glad that the bot didn't see her yummy sushi pajamas, those she was not going to give up. The Buffybot immediately skipped to Faith's side and held onto the brunette slayer's arm, smiling brightly at the nervous brunette.

"Hi Faith!" she said, "I'm glad you're here now. Shall we go to bed now?"

Faith snuck a peek at Buffy, who was quietly seething and glaring at the bot who was holding onto her Faith. The brunette looked back at the bot but luckily was saved by Torrance who came in, brushing her teeth as she stared at the trio near the doorway.

Pulling out her toothbrush, Torrance kept in mind to not allow any of the white foam leak out from her mouth, "What's up?"

"Nothing Tor" said Faith, giving her friend an uneasy smile.

The blonde head cheerleader shrugged her shoulders and walked back out, brushing her teeth. A mere minute later, she came back, teeth squeaky clean and breath minty fresh, only to see the three still in the same position.

"Uhh…." She began, not sure of what to do, "Are we going to sleep yet? Or we doing something else besides standing here?"

Buffy and Faith both near jump out of their skin from Torrance's sudden reappearance, but the slayers outwardly remained calm. The blonde slayer smiled politely at Torrance, "Sleep, sorry about that. Good night!"

She hurried off back into her own room, afraid to get embarrassed again. Torrance just nodded her head and then looked over at Faith who just shrugged her shoulders in reply. She rolled her eyes at Faith and walked over to the bed, sliding under the covers.

"Don't forget to turn off the lights" she said, yawning and stretching on the bed.

Faith flipped off the lights and crawled under the blankets next to Torrance and the Buffybot followed her, putting Faith in between the two girls, snuggling close her personal little slayer. Even though Faith was uncomfortable with the Buffybot being so touchy feely, she couldn't turn down the robot, seeing how even the bot could imitate the Buffy pout and glassy eyes so well. Sighing in defeat in the dark room, she laid an arm around the Buffybot's shoulder and tried to sleep. She missed the brilliant smile from Buffybot's face and the flash of milky silver light in the bot's eyes.

– **O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – **

In the other room, Buffy was tossing and turning in her bed unable to get any sort of rest. She half sat up and punched her pillow a few times before dropping back down on the bed, groaning into her pillow. She picked up her best friend, Mr. Gordo and held him up to eye level, pouting at the pig.

"I can't sleep Mr. Gordo" she whined. Wiggling her stuffed animal back and forth, she hugged him to her chest, stroking the worn pink fur and thinking about her fellow slayer and her annoying look-alike sleeping together in the next room. The only thing that kept her from sneaking into the room was the fact that it would be creepy and that Torrance was also in the room with them.

"I don't know what I'm feeling Mr. Gordo" she said to her trusty best friend. "I mean, there comes the robot that stole my face and body, clinging onto Faith and God knows what else she's done…She's even kissed Faith! That's totally not fair."

A beat, and her eyes widened in surprise.

"I didn't mean it like that! It's just, now Faith is acting all weird around me and unflirty and un-Faith like. Now she has that imitation me clinging onto her!"

Another calming minute. She picked up Mr. Gordo again and looked right into his beady black eyes, "What's going on with me? Do you know?" she shook her friend before hugging him again. "I wish I knew…"

She sighed again in the quiet room, hugging her childhood best friend tightly against her chest, wondering just what emotions she was feeling today and why all of them centered around her sister slayer.

– **O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – **

Within a few minutes in the warm comfortable bed, Torrance and Faith had fallen asleep, exhausted from the drive up to Sunnydale and the subsequent drama that seemed to follow the Scooby Gang. Torrance lay on her side, her back facing Faith as she slumbered, dead to the world. Faith was on her back, emitting some soft snores as she fidgeted in her dreams. The Buffybot on the other hand, propped her elbow on the pillow and held her head above Faith's sleeping form. Gently tracing the younger slayer's soft olive skin, the bot smiled forlornly at the girl who took over all of her programs and functions. The bot couldn't help but want, no need, to be close to her. There was no reason, only instinct; instinct that shouldn't have existed in a robot. Her hazel eyes swept across Faith's body while her hands were lagging behind, slowly peeling back the blankets to see the young girl's figure. She concentrated on Faith's rising and falling chest adorned in her tight black tank top and down to the small strip of skin exposed at the end of her tank top and above her grey boxer shorts. Admiring the tanned athletic legs, her eyes swept back up to Faith's plumpy red lips. The pseudo slayer's eyes glowed with a mixture of silver and gold, combining the Slayer's and Buffy's essence. The need to conquer and claim her mate came from the Slayer but also the need to show love to this young girl came from Buffy's, even if unknown to the true owner of these emotions. The bot took an unneeded breath of air as she stagnantly lowered her lips to Faith's forehead, just touching them to the soft skin. At the contact, a huge jolt of energy flowed through the bot's circuits and wires, but all congregated to the primitive side of the bot's needs. She felt the uncontrollable desire to take the girl and claim her…possess her.

"Faith" she whispered in such a way that seemed like her whole existence depended on the girl under her. Buffybot rose up on the bed, straddling Faith's hips and balanced her body on her palms next to Faith's head. Lowering her body, the bot sighed in pleasure when their bodies made contact; rubbing against the brunette's sleeping form. Faith mumbled slightly, but stayed asleep. Buffybot looked at her closed eyes, wishing she could see the expressive dark brown eyes instead. She bent her head down, capturing her lips with her own, creating a slow kiss meant to rouse the brunette slayer.

Faith was drained from the adventures today and lying down on the comfy bed knocked her out immediately. Now, she was mumbling in protest to be awakened but felt something warm and soft against her lips. She could barely make out what it was, only that it felt very good. Then, felt a shock of pleasure running through her core to her finger tips and toes. She groaned and arched her back from the pleasant pressure that seemed to only be growing faster and longer. Slowly, Faith opened her eyes but what she saw didn't make any sense in her barely waking brain. She did the only thing a confused slayer would do, she lashed out. Raising her hands to Buffybot's shoulders, she tried to shove the bot off of her. But the bot stayed up and grounded harder into Faith's body, pushing her down on the bed. Faith let out a strangled moan when the bot's hips thrust right against her own, making her body pulse in another pleasurable shock.

"Fuck" she hissed, trying to get her head back from cloud nine. Her brain finally caught up to her waking body and she looked at Buffybot's smiling face. "Bbot? What are you doing?"

"You're awake Faith" said the bot in a chirpy tone, "I wanted to see your eyes. They're very nice and pretty. I like how dark they are and how your pupils dilate when I do this."

Buffybot raised her hips and slammed it back down against Faith's the apex of Faith's spread thighs. Faith's eyes rolled into the back of her head and gasped loudly into the dark room. Buffybot leaned her forehead against Faith's and she grinned from ear to ear when Faith finally unrolled her eyes to stare back at her.

"That felt very nice" said the bot in her usual bubbly way, "It only feels nice with you, Faith…I never felt so …tingly before."

"Bbot" said a now panicking Faith, "Maybe you could ease up a bit? I mean, this is going a bit too fast."

"I like you Faith."

"That's great Bbot, I like you too" she replied, trying to get herself out from under her. She didn't want to start a fight in Joyce's room or hurt the bot, so she tried to trick the robot into letting her go.

After hearing Faith's reply, the Buffybot smiled even wider and began kissing Faith's neck, gently sucking and licking the length of her silky skin as a reward.

"Shit" hissed Faith. It wasn't going the way she wanted but it felt so good. She was going to stop the bot…right about now.

Or maybe in a minute because the Buffybot started grinding her hips in a rhythmic circle, gently adding pressure to her mound.

But then… in the back of her mind, an annoying but right voice boomed in her head. _This isn't Buffy. This is wrong. _

No matter how good and gratifying it felt to be with this blonde imitation, she knew it couldn't happen. She couldn't disrespect Buffy that way. With her renewed resolve, Faith rolled them over and pinned the bot down on her shoulders and held the bot's leg's shut with her own.

"Bbot, stop" she commanded, in her slaying voice, but that only served to excite the pseudo slayer even more.

Buffybot used her free arms to box Faith's ears, painfully the brunette sat up and held her aching head only to find herself sailing through the air right into Joyce's dresser. So much for not fighting. Shakily raising to her feet, Faith glared at the savagely grinning bot who stalked closer to the brunette, her the golden flakes in her eyes crowding the silver, pushing it out of her irises.

The real Buffy rushed into the room, ready for battle. What she didn't expect to see was Faith and Buffybot squaring off while Torrance was nervously perched near the bed, her legs sprung to intervene if something happened. As the blonde slayer reached out with her senses, her olfactory sense magnified when she smelled the sweet arousal coming off from Faith. A primal urge exploded within her to take what she regarded was hers and a slight rumble eased off her throat, knowing she wasn't the cause for the girl's arousal. The rational human side of her told her she was angry because her mother's drawer was smashed and she didn't want to get grounded again. Using that as her reason for her sudden anger instead of the jealousy that it was, she glared at the robot slayer who was snarling back at her. The two identical blondes faced each other, sizing each other up, only their primal instincts on the loose. They were fighting to claim what was theirs. Faith looked back and forth between Buffy and the Bbot. Her eyebrows were scrunched in confusion, trying to comprehend what was going on. Seeing the Bbot's eyes filled with glowing golden irises instead of normal hazel eyes was already disconcerting but seeing the exact same glow in Buffy's eyes terrified her. She knew something was wrong with them…but what? And why them?

Slowly, the Buffybot's eyes were dulling in color while Buffy's eyes were brightening. Instead, the bot's eyes were starting to get the silver lining back, the gold fading back. Suddenly, the Buffybot dropped to the ground and Faith rushed to the bot's side while Buffy began shaking off the trance she was in.

"Bbot?" Faith cautiously approached the robot, kneeling by her side and gently stroking her cheek. Buffy blinked away the haze and slowly knelt down beside Faith, looking down at her likeness and wondering what just happened. On the side, Torrance approached them, her arms folded across her chest as she looked onto this bizarre image.

"Soo…can anyone explain?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at the pair.

"Not sure Tor" said Faith without looking at her friend.

"Faith, take the bot back to my room alright? Just sleep in my room tonight."

Faith wanted to protest but one look at Buffy's slayer hard stare and she just nodded her head. Sliding her arms under the back of her knees and arms, Faith carried the bot to Buffy's bed and crawled under the covers, completely exhausted again.

Buffy looked at Torrance, giving a small smile to the blonde, "Sorry about that Torrance, but we don't know what's happening. We'll try to figure it out in the morning. Just get some rest okay? I'll keep the robot and Faith in the room so you don't have to worry about anything."

"They're gonna be okay right? And the bot isn't going to hurt Missy?"

The slayer patted her on the shoulder, "I won't let anything happen to her."

Nodding her head, Torrance shut the door after Buffy left and slipped back into bed, hoping that things would get clearer in the morning. She couldn't help but think if coming to Sunnydale was a good idea or not…but it sure was an interesting town, to say the least.

When Faith woke up to the blinding morning sun through Buffy's window, she was sure she was still dreaming, because…there was no way that Buffy would be snuggled up next to her, the blonde's head on her shoulder and one hand on her left breast while her thighs were clamped around Faith's thigh. There certainly wasn't any way that right next to her, another Buffy was wrapped around her other arm, again a hand on her breast and her leg trapped between Buffy's thighs. And there was no chance in the world that there would be two Buffy's holding onto her like a giant teddy bear, or maybe a giant sex toy. So, the brunette just closed her eyes…and went back to sleep. Because, there was no way in hell that Buffy Summers would like her, let alone grope her in her sleep. Right?

A few minutes later, this time Buffy was the one who woke up, surrounded in warmth complete with lovely slayer tingles bouncing around her whole body. In her barely awake state, all she knew was the soft squishy mound under her hand that she just had to squeeze and the feeling of a very strong thigh in between her legs that fit snugly between her own legs. Lightly moaning, the blonde slayer started waking up from the best sleep she's ever had since forever. Blinking away her sleepiness, she noticed that there was probably a mirror on her bed because she should not be seeing her exact double in front of her. She started noticing the unusual warmth around her body and lifted up her head to see the comfortable pillow she was on; only to see a deeply slumbering Faith and in front of her the Buffybot who was now copying her. The bot smiled happily at her counterpart while Buffy simply scowled and glared at the robot.

"Good morning Buffy."

"Uh…yea" said Buffy, suddenly realizing what her hand was actually on. Snapping her hand back as if she had touched hot coal, Buffy blushed a deep shade of red and was about to explain why exactly her hand was on Faith's breast.

"Faith has very nice breast" said the Buffybot as she continued to have her hand on said breast. "It's nice and warm. Also very squishy." The blonde robot squeezed once more, demonstrating its' squishiness.

Buffy leapt into action and nearly pulled off the bot's arm, getting her away from a surprisingly still asleep Faith.

"Okay, no more touching for you" said Buffy, pulling the bot off the bed.

"But Faith feels so nice."

"No touching" warned Buffy.

"Why not?" asked the robot in complete innocence.

Scrambling to come up with an explanation so that her sister slayer would not be molested in her sleep, Buffy just came up with any reason that could placate the robot. "Because she's asleep! So…when she's awake you can do it again…it's not right to do this while she's asleep."

The robot nodded empathetically and smiled again, accepting this logic. "Okay, I will touch her breasts again when she is awake. Faith will like it. Her thighs are also very muscular. It felt very nice on my pussy."

"Oh God" mumbled Buffy, redfaced again. Even though she was embarrassed about the whole situation she couldn't help but think that the bot had correct assumptions about the younger slayer's body parts. After this realization, Buffy immediately shook her head to dispel it of those impure thoughts. She grabbed the bot's wrists and dragged her out of the room, partly to get her away from Faith and the other reason was that she didn't want to have the younger girl wake up and hear this particular conversation.

– **O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – **

"How do you do that flip again?" asked Dawn. The young Summers sat on the back porch, watching Lester and Torrance do a series of flips and tumbles across the backyard, demonstrating their routine that won second place in the Universal Cheer Association Nationals.

"It's hard to explain" said Torrance, "I put my whole weight to the center of my body…and then jump." The blonde executed a perfect flip in the air, landing gracefully on the lawn.

"I can do cartwheels and stuff but not a flip in midair. I always fall down…and Buffy won't teach me" whined the teenage girl.

"Tell you what Dawn" said Lester, sitting next to the brunette, "We find a place with a bunch of tumbling mats, the three of us will teach you. You got three cheerleaders teaching you how to flip, I'm sure you'll learn it!"

Dawn smiled adoringly at the brunette boy and shyly nodded her head. In return, Lester gave the girl a side hug, making Dawn swoon and feel giddy inside. Observing this, Torrance just shook her head slightly and gave the boy a disapproving stare. It's not good to lead her on. But Lester flirted with everyone, just like Faith.

"Can you do that swing dancing thing again?" asked Dawn.

"Sure!"

– **O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – **

In the kitchen, Buffy poured herself some Cheerios and milk to eat since her mother wasn't there to cook for her. Digging into her bowl, the blonde girl looked out the window to see Torrance and Lester bouncing around the backyard while Dawn watched. Curious, Buffy walked outside and noticed that they were doing cheerleading stunts. Sitting down beside Dawn, Buffy admired the well-executed tosses and flips.

Noticing the new spectator, the two teenagers stopped their practice and came by to Buffy, greeting the blonde slayer.

"Those were some impressive moves" said Buffy, "What do you two do? Are you two cheerleaders or something?"

Torrance responded with pride and a hint of glee, "Cheerleaders of course."

Then Buffy remembered something that Dawn said a long time ago, that Faith was dating a cheerleader. Suddenly her mood just swung ever lower from this morning, the environment turned icy and everyone noticed the change, Lester's arm was filled with goose bumps and Torrance rubbed her forearms trying to garner some heat. Dawn looked at her sister, slightly afraid of what Buffy was going to do and what exactly set her off. Right on cue, the Buffybot bounced out on the porch, skipping happily and beaming at everyone, unable to compute the cold atmosphere or plainly just ignored it.

"Hello friends of mine! Why is everyone frowning? Did something happen? Is Faith okay?"

"Faith's fine" deadpanned Buffy, still moody.

"Say…you're Torrance and you're Lester. You're Faith's friends." Buffybot retrieved from her database. There were blanks in her system and she wanted to collect an extensive amount of information in order to please Faith. "How did you meet Faith?"

Even though Buffy was still jealous, she was interested in knowing how the young girl met these two. Torrance and Lester both smiled from the memory of meeting Faith.

"Well…she was trying out for cheerleading" began Torrance, "She had the bad girl look down to pat, with a wallet chain, dreadlocked hair and that swagger that screams I can kick your ass."

"Wait a minute" said Buffy, her eyes wide in disbelief, "Faith's…Faith's a _cheerleader_?"

– **O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – **

At 9:00 AM, Faith finally stirred awake, stretching her body on Buffy's bed and moaning as her joints whined and cracked. She snuggled back into the pillow, smelling a mixture of some flowery shampoo and a scent that made her mouth water. Hugging the pillow tighter, Faith inhaled a few more times and finally threw the blankets to the side, slowly getting out of the bed. Sniffing the air again, Faith's stomach grumbled loudly when she smelled the delicious aroma of eggs, bacon and pancakes wafting around the air. Immediately, the young slayer hurried down to the kitchen, hoping to get a share of the food. Instead of seeing Buffy at the stove, she saw Lester and Torrance there, expertly wielding the pans and spatulas.

"Morning" she mumbled, staring at the abundance of food on the table, her mouthwatering.

"Good morning sleepyhead" said Torrance, hugging her friend. Faith gave the blonde a half-hearted hug, her mind was set on devouring the food in front of her and nothing else. The Buffybot sidled next to Faith, holding onto her hand and leaning her head on Faith's shoulder. Faith was used to it by now and her brain wasn't working properly with all the food in front of her.

"Time to eat yet?" asked Faith, her hand already reaching for a crispy piece of bacon.

Torrance immediately slapped Faith's hand with the spatula, giving her friend a mock glare. "Wait for everyone else dork. And go wash up, you have dragon breath!"

Faith scowled, but ran up the stairs to brush her teeth and wash her face. Buffy and Dawn gave the blond cheerleader a look of amazement, she had Faith trained so well. Torrance caught the look from the sisters and gave them a smile, "Food always gets to her. Plus with all the sleepovers we had, I know what to do."

As everyone plated the food on the island in the kitchen, they could hear Faith thundering down the stairs to them. She immediately took a seat on the open stool next to Buffy and Torrance and stared at the food, a bit glassy eyed.

"Can I eat yet?" she asked Torrance in annoyance.

"Course" she replied, smirking at Faith.

Faith rolled her eyes and quickly stacked five pancakes on her plate and doused it with maple syrup while everyone else was conservatively putting food on their plates. Breakfast was mostly silent, everyone engaged in eating the food with an occasional request for condiments on the other side of the island. As everyone was finishing up, Faith was still actively demolishing the leftover food. Buffy looked at her sister-slayer and started to smirk at the younger girl.

"So Faith…I heard you're a cheerleader."

The brunette immediately started choking on her scrambled eggs and drank a mouth full of orange juice to down the food. She stammered and coughed, looking up at Buffy who had an amused grin across her lips.

"W-what?" asked Faith.

"You know, with the poms poms and short skirts and the jumping around screaming 'Go team go!' "

"Are you sick in the head B? Why would I ever join such a…" she trailed off, immediately turning towards Lester and Torrance, pinning them with a glare. "YOU TOLD THEM?" she screamed.

"We thought they knew!" explained Lester.

Faith buried her face in her hands, a loud groan making everyone chuckle and smile at the expense of the poor slayer's dignity and ego. She didn't want the Sunnydale crew to ever know about her cheerleading exploits, but of course she should have known that Torrance would spill the beans.

"Please" she moaned, "Let's never mention this again."

"Oh!" said Torrance, excitedly getting off the chair, "I have videos, we were on ESPN for the nationals!"

"No!" shouted Faith, hoping up after Torrance but was restrained by Buffy holding onto her waist.

Her entire world shattered when Torrance came back in, beaming with pride and mischief. "It's on the TV, come watch!"

"It won't be too bad Faith" placated Dawn, still grinning widely.

"Yea Faith" said Buffy, her mood noticeably shifted to one of happiness. "I get to see you being all girly and in a skirt!" What Buffy wanted to see most though was the skimpy outfit and Faith jumping around in it.

Faith's face immediately went pale and the poor girl groaned again…she never had a chance.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"Alright then" said Giles, looking through his notes once again before addressing the group.

The Scooby gang and the SD gang were seated at the round table at the Magic Box, everyone waiting for Giles to continue with this emergency meeting. Faith sat smugly in her seat while she smiled gratefully at the old Watcher. When she entered the Magic Box, Giles was startled by Faith jubilantly hugging and thanking him while Buffy and Dawn glared at the retired librarian. It was so unlike Faith to be having this type of physical contact with anyone, let alone him that he outright asked, "Did someone make a robot Faith too?" That earned him an intense glare from Faith but he was happy to hear the belly-aching laughter coming from Buffy and Dawn. Giles learned that his youngest slayer was saved by his emergency meeting from an embarrassing fate. Although he only helped delay the order of events that will soon happen, especially if Buffy was on the case, Faith was as good as served on a silver platter. Nonetheless, the recent cheerleader was still glad of her postponed mortification and possibly death by blushing and teasing.

By the staircase, Dawn and Buffybot were quietly playing a game of cards, Dawn pretending to play so that she could try and eavesdrop on the conversation that she was banned from while the Buffybot was stealing conspicuous glances at the object of her affections. When Faith made eye contact with her, Buffybot would have a face-splitting smile and wave at the brunette, happy that Faith had not forgotten about her. Faith would nod back and turn her attention back to the meeting, catching Giles's dreary but vital explanation.

"I've spoken to Spike about the…robot" said Giles, earning himself an immense slayer-sized-glare from Buffy at the mention of the vampire. "Well, it seems that he…wanted some realism to the robot instead of…well just a robot that would follow his every whim."

"He wanted more than just a sex-bot?" asked Faith.

"Apparently" explained Giles, furiously cleaning his already pristine glasses. "He had asked a warlock to perform a spell to copy Buffy's essence into the robot, making her a carbon copy of Buffy while the robot retained the…programs he had asked for."

"Oh God" mumbled Buffy, her face pale and feeling like she was about to puke. "Could he be anymore desperate?"

Faith opened her mouth to give a smartass reply, but Buffy turned towards her and immediately hissed, "Don't. Don't give me a reason to vomit on you."

Willow scooched her seat away from Buffy, warily checking to see if Buffy was about to upturn her stomach onto anyone. Buffy turned to Giles after chastising Faith with her eyes, "Okay, obviously the spell didn't work. It still acts like a robot girlfriend. Which I might add is really annoying. Plus, it got all primal and glowy and stuff last night and got into a fight with me!"

"I think there may be an explanation for that. The timing of the spell Spike used and the Quest you were on seem to coincide. It may have interrupted each other and mixed them together."

Xander raised his hand, his fingers sticky from the jelly donut he was gorging on. "The Buffybot got hit with some white light last night, before Spike came. She went all spazzy and twitchy before knocking me across the field. By the time I woke up…well, Faith here and the Buffybot were making with the kissy faces" he recounted with boyish glee at the end.

Shooting him a glower, Faith scowled and avoided Buffy's accusing eyes. "After Xander got knocked out like a little girl" she mocked. Xander protested with a small "Hey!" but was ignored.

"The bot just grabbed me and kissed me, I swear. Not like I wanted it, but she was so much stronger than me. I couldn't even move. She kept saying 'mine'" though. Not sure why, but every time she said it, her eyes were glowing gold."

"Golden?" asked Giles, trying to purge his mind of the image of Buffy and Faith kissing. He scrambled to look through his notes again, "And Buffy, you said the Primitive just disappeared in a cloud of smoke?"

"Uh huh…"

"Oh good lord" mumbled Giles, jabbing at the notebook. "Spike's spell did not take Buffy's essence; it took the Slayer's essence from within Buffy. That robot is in fact the slayer side of Buffy. It has the ability to unleash pure power from the Slayer. Although that doesn't quite explain why the Slayer chose Faith as it's' mate" mused Giles, not noticing the look of alarm on Buffy's face.

"Mate?" murmured Buffy, remembering the Primitive's words to her. _Your Mate will give you your gift._ She risked a glance at Faith, not knowing what type of reaction the younger slayer would have.

"Maybe cause she saw me first when she got hit with the spell" Faith tried to rationalize.

"Actually, I think she saw me first, got the bruise to prove it" said Xander, rubbing his bruised chest.

"Astonishing, quite remarkable really," acknowledged Giles, still rifling through his notes as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I believe that the Slayer recognized Faith as one of its kind and immediately claimed Faith as its mate."

"Does that mean if Buffster was next to the Buffybot, the Buffybot would get all possessive and kissy over Buffy?" observed Xander, his mind going a bit on overload at the visuals he was imagining.

"Xander!" chastised Buffy and Willow, knowing what type of scenario he was picturing.

Buffy shook off the disgust she was feeling. "Okay, fine. But what we do with super slayer robot there then? She's a _robot_, we can't keep her around. Especially with Glory and everything."

"Why not?" questioned Faith.

The blonde slayer went on the defensive, especially after the revelation that Faith was her potential mate. "What? You want to keep it around?"

"Well, as Giles said, Bbot is a super slayer now. She can help the fighting and crap, keep Little D safe when we're not there y'know?"

"Oh…" said Buffy, her mind was going into X-rated material when Faith wanted the Buffybot around. Although a Buffy-Faith-Buffy sandwich didn't seem so bad now. She vigorously shook her head out of that visual, if anything a Faith-Buffy-Faith sandwich sounded and looked much more appealing.

"That's true though" said Willow. "Even though she's a robot, she's identical to you Buffy, what better to fool your enemies than to have an exact copy of you?"

"Okay okay, I get what everyone is saying…but…it's a _robot_. Walking around with **my** face and **my **body, programmed to …have sex with Spike!"

Torrance perked up and looked at the robot and back to Faith, a smirk on her lips. "I don't think you have anything to worry about Buffy. Seems like the Buffybot has a small crush on our little Missy here."

"Hey totally not my fault. Even the Bbot couldn't resist this" said Faith, winking at Torrance.

"Ow!" Then she got a whack in the head by Buffy who was starting to get jealous by Faith's overt flirting and the obvious attraction that the Buffybot had on her.

"Maybe if you stopped flaunting your goodies then the robot wouldn't molest you!" scolded Buffy.

"Hey! She totally would have wanted me with or without me flaunting. Plus, molesting? I think that has to be **your** fault."

"W-what?" asked Buffy, the back of her neck burning. Faith might know she was attracted to her! "W-what are you talking about?"

"Remember? Bbot grabbing my boobs this morning? Explaining how **you** told her that it was okay to grope the goodies if I was awake."

Everyone turned to look at Buffy, who was really beet red now. Well, at least Faith didn't know about the crush.

"T-that…she was groping you in your sleep! And I didn't want slayer-it to come out so I just told her to grope you when you were awake."

"Children please" insisted Giles with an exasperated sigh. Sometimes he doesn't know how this group has averted so many apocalypses. "Back to the matter at hand. The robot could be a great advantage to us in our fight against Glory. Perhaps we should wait until the threat is neutralized before thinking about putting her into a scrap heap? In addition to this, we essentially have three slayers with us now. Two has already been unprecedented, but three! Could you even imagine the plethora of events this could bring out?"

"Giles, since this robot is wearing my face and not yours. I think my opinion matters more don't you?"

"Right…right of course" he said, putting his research mode into the back-burner.

"Ugh!" growled a frustrated Buffy. "I can't think right now. Too much new stuff in my head. Let's go kill some stuff."

Buffy grabbed Faith's hand and tugged her up from the chair, ignoring the questionable gazes along her way. The Buffybot bounced up and skipped to the slayers, "Are we going to kill evil creatures now?" she asked with a child-like innocence.

"**We're** going to" said Buffy, glaring at her look-alike. "You stay back and…watch Dawn."

The Buffybot looked towards Faith, hoping to get instructions from the brunette slayer who gave her such pleasant tingles.

"Uhh…yea. Watch Dawn for tonight yea? We'll go slaying later 'kay Bbot?"

"Okay Faith. Kill more evil creatures for me Faith. Then you can come back and have your hungries and hornies, and I will take care of them for you."

Buffy fumed next to Faith and grabbed Faith's hand, pulling her out of the shop. If anyone were to help with Faith's post-slayage afflictions, it would be her, not the robot!

– **O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – O – **

Walking side by side, Faith and Buffy were patrolling Restfield Cemetery at sundown, both on the prowl for vampires and demons. Faith's face was fiery red in embarrassment while Buffy smirked and wiggles her eyebrows up at her partner. It wasn't easy to one-up Faith and ever since Buffy learned about Faith's stint as a cheerleader, she took the offered gift to relentlessly tease the girl.

"What school colors did you wear?" Buffy asked innocently, nudging Faith with her shoulder.

"God…you gotta be this annoying? Not like you're not going to see it when we get back...fucking Tor" mumbled Faith, pulling her hands into the pockets of her jean jacket.

"Aww…come on Faith, it's not every day you learn that your supposed tough as nails friend is actually a cheerleader."

Faith groaned for the umpteenth time today, hating how her girly extracurricular activities were revealed. It just did not fit her image and now she had to deal with Dawn's probing questions, Xander's glassy eyed stare; Willow's knowing smile, Anya's perverse conspiratory wink and Buffy's onslaught of teases.

"I didn't really have a choice! They didn't have gymnastics and I really wanted to…oh shit" cursed Faith.

Buffy's eyes nearly bugged out of her eye sockets when another piece of Faith's life was revealed. "Oh my God! You're a gymnast! You're girlier than I thought!"

Walking faster to ditch Buffy, Faith scowled and cursed under her breath, her badass persona was going down the drain and that was utterly unacceptable! She was supposed to be the tough-as-nails-chick, who wore leather, and can kick anyone's ass. Now, that image was as good as gone, she was now the gymnast and the cheerleader. Oh, how she hated her life now.

Hurrying to catch up to Faith, Buffy couldn't help but smile at how much she was getting to know her sister slayer. She always wanted to unravel the mystery that was Faith, but never had a chance to, now she could and definitely liked what she saw.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of" said Buffy, struggling to match her gait with Faith's, "I think it's cute and adorable, now I see why you were so bendy before."

Faith turned around, walking backwards to face Buffy with a lascivious grin, "You ain't seen bendy yet B. Bet I can give 'bendy' a whole new definition."

"Okay, I walked right into that one" said a blushing Buffy.

Winking and grinning at the blonde, Faith slowed her steps and walked alongside Buffy again, "Hey, can't take the heat, then get outta the kitchen."

"W-well" Buffy raked her brain for a comeback, "What's your girlfriend going to say about you flirting with everything that moves?"

"Uhh…girlfriend?"

Buffy teasingly slapped Faith's arm, even though her chest felt like a block of ice took residence there at the thought of Faith and someone else. "You know, blonde, perky, cheerleader, goes by the name of Torrance?"

"B, she ain't my girl. We're really good friends, first one I made back at SD. Plus, she's my brother's girl, not mine. Don't let him hear you say that, he's got enough trust issues as it is."

As Faith continued to walk beside Buffy, she didn't notice the way Buffy's face lit up in a huge giddy smile and how she was nearly skipping with every step after she found out that Faith did not have a girlfriend. Then, she remembered that there was another cheerleader with them and her face fell into a frown. Dawn might have misheard girlfriend for boyfriend…or at least that's what her mind was screaming.

"How about boyfriend? I'm sure Lester isn't going to like his girlfriend flirting with another girl" tested Buffy, hoping that she was wrong.

Bending over in a fit of laughter, Faith slapped her thighs and started wheezing from the lack of air when she could not stop laughing at Buffy's absurd notion. Buffy pouted and crossed her arms over her chest, offended that Faith wasn't taking her seriously, "I'm serious!"

Faith held out her index finger, giving her the 'one more minute' sign as her laughter tapered off but as she straightened her back, her shoulders were still shaking with suppressed giggles. "S-sorry…that's just…God, you crack me up B!"

"It was a valid question!"

"It would have been, if it weren't about Les. B, he's gay."

"Oh…"

Buffy looked away in embarrassment, but inside she was once again doing cartwheels around her head.

"And for the record B" said Faith, "I don't have a boyfriend or girlfriend. Single here."

"Well…that's…good. No one caught your eye at San Diego?"

"I guess...I mean, I don't do the 'get some, get gone' routine anymore, gotta respect the parentals now that I'm at home. Plus…I kinda get that there's more, y'know?"

"So you're saying you want the whole nine yards, the hand-holding, dating thing?"

It was Faith's rare turn to blush with a bashful smile, acting like a girl she nodded her head and wrung her hands nervously. "Yea…guess you can say that. Go ahead…" said Faith with a groan.

"Awwwwwwww…"cooed Buffy, "My little Faithy is growing up!"

"When did I become yours? And Faithy? Really?"

"Would you rather I call you Missy?"

"Faithy is fine."

"Thought so."

Faith sat on top of a tombstone, lightly kicking her feet out as she scanned the area for any demons or vampires, her slayer senses told her the only supernatural being in her vicinity was Buffy, and those were pleasant tingles shooting up and down her spine. She had missed slaying with her sister slayer, sure she slayed with Torrance, Lester, Jenny and occasionally Cliff, but it wasn't the same.

"So what are you gonna do about the bot now?" asked Faith, looking at Buffy who was leaning against the same tombstone she was sitting on.

"Ugh…do we have to mention the robot now?"

"Well, they're gonna be expecting an answer y'know. Red's looking a bit tech-happy and Giles is looking all book happy. You feel her right? Like you feel me?"

Buffy shook her head, "No, I don't feel it in the robot. I only feel you."

"Oh…" murmured a disappointed Faith. "Maybe it's like the smell thing. You can't smell yourself cause you're so used to your own scent."

"I guess…I don't know. It's so weird having a freaky robot twin. And yuck…Spike built her…for you know."

Faith's eyes darkened at the mention of the chipped vampire. "Yea…why can't I stake him again?"

"He's harmless Faith. We don't kill harmless creatures."

"Bullshit he's harmless" snarled Faith. "He's a vampire, remember. Slayer. Vampire. Dead vampire. He ain't any different than all the blood suckers we kill here. Yea, now he has the chip and he can't hurt humans, but what happens if it malfunctions? He's **evil** B. Ain't nothing that's gonna change his true nature. The more he's around the more you all are gonna be used to him. 'Specially the kid, she has a crush on him you know? What's gonna happen when she wants to hang and the chip malfunctions or some shit like that? You really think he ain't gonna take a bite out of little D?"

Sighing in reluctance and annoyance, Buffy weaved her hand through her hair, exhaling loudly again. She stood in front of Faith, making eye contact with the brunette. "I know Faith. I know. I've had those same thoughts going through my head. He's a vampire, he doesn't have a soul. I know he's dangerous. The second I know that something is wrong with his chip, he's dust. I just can't bring myself to kill him, not because I like him or anything. That's icky to the extreme. But because he's completely harmless. I can't kill harmless creatures Fai."

"Then don't. I'll do it. I got no problem offing a vamp. 'Specially one that built a sex-bot with your face."

"Yuck…did you have to remind me?"

"Hey, gotta make you repulsed enough for you to give me the go ahead on staking."

Buffy visibly shuddered again, trying to purge the thoughts of what he and the robot most likely had done. "Ewww…stop it! God, at least it doesn't like him anymore. Seems like the robot has a new crush Faithy" teased Buffy.

"B. Come on. Some of her wires must've crossed somewhere and corrupted it or some shit. Buffybot was made to love him…not me. You know, me who's a girl, a slayer, one hell of a sexy body. All the things he ain't."

"These past months have done nothing but boost your ego."

"Hey, you can't deny that I'm dangerously sexy B. I mean, how can **anyone** resist this?"

Faith lazily outlined all of her womanly curves, from the top of her chest down to the seam of her jeans, and cupped her pussy, giving a nasty hip thrust. The blonde outwardly displayed her disgust as her face twisted in a grimace and she slapped the other girl in the arm; inwardly though, she was getting tingles in areas she hadn't ever had before.

"God, could you be more of a guy?"

"Probably" grinned Faith, "But don't get the dicky for it. I like my pussy as it is B. Plus if I had a dick, it would probably be this big."

She put her hands more than a foot apart, winking at Buffy for good measure.

"I don't think anyone can have one that big" said Buffy with a blush.

"I so would if I did."

"Whatever imaginary dicky girl."

"My strap-on says otherwise."

"Y-you…strap-on?" squeaked Buffy, her face even redder than before.

"Yea" mumbled Faith, her voice lower than usual. "Care to—"

The slayers were blindsided by four humongous brown scaly demons. The leader, barreled into Faith, cutting her sentence halfway and crushing her onto the ground.

"Faith!" screamed Buffy, terrified that Faith was hurt. "Get the fuck off her!"

She sprang into action, kicking the demon across the face, loosening his hold on Faith. The brunette took the chance and kicked out with both her legs, launching the demon across the graveyard into a mausoleum. Faith placed her hands next to her ears and kipped up, landing next to Buffy. Giving her partner a wink, Faith threw herself into the two demons on her side as Buffy blocked a punch from the other demon.

Facing two demons was not a hard endeavor for either slayer that is until the demons drew out their bone swords from their back. Buffy and Faith stood back to back, looking at the demons who were slashing the air with the swords.

"Okay…got any weapons on ya B?"

"Only some stakes, not sure if it's going to do any good right now. You?"

"Same, could try to use em as darts."

Faith immediately stole a stake from the waistband of Buffy's jeans and flung it at the demon's eye, only to have him cut it in half. If the demon could grin, he would have been at the two weaponless slayers.

"Why do you always take my stakes?"

"I like yours better" shrugged Faith.

"Well, now we're one stake down and throwing them isn't going to help."

"Creative slay time?" asked Faith, the adrenaline rushing through her blood.

"Creative slay time" repeated Buffy, the smile matching Faith's as her own blood rushed in her blood.

The Chosen Two hurled themselves at the demons, both echoing each other punch for punch, kick for kick without ever meaning to. Faith delivered a particularly gruesome roundhouse kick, snapping the demon's head back until it nearly broke his neck. While Buffy did the same kick, the other demon was smarter and ducked, so Buffy retaliated with a spinning side kick to his ribs, crushing those bones.

On Faith's end, the demons were steadily backing away from the ferocious slayer. The brunette slayer was having fun playing around with the two demons. She thought they were retreating in fear and self-preservation, until a net came crashing down on top of her.

"What the hell?" she shrieked, trying to get the heavy trap off of her.

Glory's minions swarmed all around her as the demons grabbed a hold of her limbs, pinning her down onto the round.

"Careful" said Jinx to the demons, "Glorificus will want the Key intact."

"Key? Who's a key? I'm not the fucking key!" screamed Faith as they wound the rope around her.

Buffy finished twisting off the neck of one of her demons and turned to Faith, seeing Glory's minions surrounding Faith and tying up her hands and feet.

"Faith!"

She tried to run over to help her, until the demon she neglected grabbed her in a bear hug, nearly crushing her ribs in the process. Scratching and pulling at the tough arms, Buffy was screaming out to Faith as they dragged her away. Finally, Buffy head butted the demon into a daze and he let her go. Instead of finishing him off, Buffy ran over to where she last saw Faith, but when she scanned the area, nothing could tell her where they dragged her off to. Screaming out in frustration, the blonde slayer doubled back to where she left the demon, only to find him gone.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Okay, so I'm all like, 'Get out of the car, I'm gonna kick your ass!' thinking that Missy so couldn't take me on. Well she got out of her car but didn't' hit me. Boy am I glad of that now. But after that we became best of friends, not sure if I could have gone on as captain without her."

Dawn propped her head up with her hand and stared at Torrance in awe. "Wow…you're one of the few people that could totally stand up to Faith you know? Buffy doesn't count."

"And I get to give her orders and stuff, make her do a bunch of cartwheels if I wanted to" said Torrance with a devious smile. "But of course I don't, can't abuse my captain powers" the blonde finished with a voice of innocence, but her eyes twinkled in mischief.

"Faith was really in …cheerleading?" asked Xander, his eyes starting to get glassy as his imagination ran wild. "They should film that and show it every Christmas."

"Xander!" scolded Anya, hitting his head with a heavy volume from the table. "You should not be having lusty thoughts about the other Slayer, she is not only _not_ me, but also very under-aged. When I was a vengeance demon, we skinned you pedophiles alive!"

"S-sorry Anya" he sheepishly apologized, but he couldn't help but feel hot and bothered when he imagined the sexy slayer doing cartwheels in skimpy cheerleader's clothes across his head…both his heads. The poor man moved a heavy volume to his lap and hoped his girlfriend wouldn't notice.

"Besides" continued Anya, not seeing Xander's sly move, "If you wanted to think about that, then you have to at least include me in your fantasies. I wouldn't mind having a three—"

"Okay!" shouted Xander as he clamped a hand over his girlfriend's mouth. "Can't say those words in front of Dawn."

Rolling her eyes in a completely teenaged fashion, Dawn dramatically sighed and threw her hands in the air. "I'm old enough to know about sex you know. Plus Faith is totally a hottie, I could see why anyone would want to have a threesome with her."

All eyes trained on the younger Summers, everyone completely horrified by her apparent lusty thoughts about the young Slayer. Dawn immediately looked away from those piercing gazes and twiddled her thumbs.

"Not that…I've never thought about that" Dawn innocently said.

All the adults quickly shook their heads, unwilling to conceive the thought that Dawn would have any type of sexy thoughts about anyone, let alone someone of the same gender and about a threesome. They all shuddered at the thought.

"So…" Tara tried to change the subject, "Why do you call her Missy? I thought her name was Faith. At least that's what everyone calls her…"

"We met her as Missy" explained Lester, "She never said she had another name well until Jen—Oof!"

Lester carefully rubbed his bruised rib while he glared at Torrance who also stepped on his foot to silence him. She gave him a warning glare and he remembered that Jenny asked them to not ever mention her.

"Until?" prodded Willow, now extremely interested in the subject and wondering why the two San Diego natives were so nervous and obviously had something to hide.

"Nevermind" Torrance quickly interjected, "We kind of promised Missy we wouldn't tell you guys how we found out her name but from what she told us, Missy Pantone is her actual name, even though she prefers Faith. But of course we can't call her Faith, that's just too confusing, I mean come on, all her school records say Missy so it would look totally weird if we called her Faith. Plus she didn't want any wind of there being a Faith in school just in case the council wanted to come."

"Makes sense" nodded Dawn. "But why Faith?"

"It's her middle name actually" Lester said, "and her last name was her Watcher's last name. I think she adopted Faith or something."

"That is quite intriguing" Giles added, walking up to them with a book open in his hands. "Now while I find this conversation quite stimulating and informational, shouldn't everyone be researching to figure out what happened to the robot Buffy? I assume you started since there are open but neglected books in front of you."

All the children looked visibly guilty and immediately dropped their eyes to the very boring old dusty books in front of them.

"But while we are on the topic of Faith" said Giles, secretly pleased to have guilted them into researching with him. "So it is true that Rebecca adopted Faith?" he asked the two teens.

They nodded.

"Ah. I see now. I tried to ask the Council for some information about Faith when she came here but they seemed to only procure some very basic information about her and absolutely no history of a Faith Lehane. The only records indicated were after she was under the wing of Rebecca Lehane. I thought that the Council had expunged her history in order to create another Slayer without attachments, like Kendra, but I was sorely mistaken."

"In English please?" Xander raised his hand, along with Dawn, Anya, Lester and Torrance. Willow and Tara nodded along with them, even though they did understand the gist of what Giles was trying to say.

"What I mean is, Faith Lehane only existed solely because of Rebecca, Faith's Watcher. There are absolutely no prior records, no medical, no birth certificate not even school records because Faith Lehane did not have any of those. In essence, she never existed. Rebecca did marvelously at concealing her identity from the Council. She was… one of the few who I got along with when we were training." Giles took out his handkerchief and rubbed the lenses on his glasses, inside he was grieving for his colleague's death.

Giles continued, "Because Faith was actually, Missy. Rebecca hid Faith's familial connections so that the Council would not have any leverage against her. Quite remarkable really, it was a shame that we could not do so for Buffy and create an identity for her also. The Council has been known to use … unusual tactics against problematic slayers."

"Ah! I get it now. So Faith is kind of like a secret identity isn't it? Faith the Vampire Slayer. Like a superhero!" Xander eagerly put in.

"Do you know what this means?" Anya asked in an excited voice. She continued without waiting for a reply. "It means that she could take out loan after loan after loan and credit card after credit card without ever having to pay it back! If Faith doesn't exist, she can take all the money she can get and disappear! If the council hasn't found her yet then what good is the government in finding her? She could be rich!"

Anya turned towards Xander, a sparkle in her eyes while Xander's held fear. "Honey. Go ask Faith if she wants to invest in a business, with her money and my business experience, we could become billionaires even trillionaires!"

When all the money-hungry ex-demon got were blank stares, she huffed out her chest and crossed her arms, glaring at each and every one of them. "Fine! Don't support me, but when we become filthy rich, don't come crawling back to us!"

Everyone in the room stared at the blonde woman and after a few seconds of intense scrutiny, they turned back towards their books as if nothing had ever happened. Anya grumbled under her breath about the Scoobies and their bad marketing skills, but in her head she was coming up with a scheme to present a plausible idea to Faith so that she could become stinkin' rich.

"Well now that we have Faith's mystery name solved" Giles eyed all the children in front of him, "Might we go back to the matter at hand? The robot. For all we know she could…become dangerous."

The Buffybot jumped next to Giles and cheerily declared, "Oh I don't think I will."

Giles held his hand to his chest and took a few steps back, surprised at the robot's sudden appearance.

"Say, when is Faith and the other me coming back?" Buffybot asked the room. "I can't wait for Faith to come back from her slaying so I can take care of her hungries and hornies, mostly hornies."

"I-I-I…w-well…I think they're coming back soon" Willow managed to stutter out. "Right guys?"

"Yea…sure" everyone mumbled and nodded, trying to purge all thoughts of the H&H's from their minds, even though most of them enjoyed that picture.

The robot happily skipped off around the Magic Box, picking merchandise up and processing the information about all the people with her as she waited patiently for Faith to return. Buffybot did not know why, but she would do anything to please Faith, not because she was programmed to like she was for Spike, but because the robot felt like she _wanted_ to make Faith happy. As the little robot scoured the heavy volumes in the shelves, the Buffybot picked out a book, turned a couple of pages and placed it back in. Scanning the books, the Buffybot wanted to see if she could find a cookbook so that she could make something delicious for her Faith to take care of her hungries and then hopefully take care of her hornies after. As the robot took a certain book off the shelf, she processed in her memory bank whether or not Faith would like some newt-eye soup with some fur of a hell cat; the robot kept that recipe along with tentacle with blood of a virgin stew and numerous otherworldly recipes in her hard drive. She did this across the shelves until she came upon a book that had a different title than the outside cover. Curious, she took out the heavy book and walked up the stairs to the second floor and began reading.

Back at the table, the adults and teenagers once again abandoned their tedious research and continued on with their idle conversations while Giles shook his head in disapproval by the counter as he scoured the volumes on the pane of glass, but he kept his ears partially open to the conversation; he wasn't as oblivious as they believed him to be, after all he hadn't quite parted ways with his old Ripper identity.

"How long are you guys going to be staying anyways?" asked Dawn.

"Until we defeat that Big Bad of yours!" Torrance shouted excitedly, "Never been against a God before, all we have are demons and vampires. And they're kind of stupid, gets kind of boring sometimes really; all we have to fill that time in is more cheer practice… Faith tries to get out of that now that we're not competing by saying there's some slaying emergency, but we go with her all the time."

"Speaking of cheerleading" said Dawn with a glint in her eyes, "Want to teach me some moves right now? Buffy had this like gym built for her in the back. Psh. Just cause she's a slayer doesn't mean she should get all these things you know."

"Dawnie" chastised Willow, "You know that Buffy needs that to train."

"Yea yea…whatever. So can we?" Dawn asked the cheerleaders.

Before they could answer, the door to the Magic Box burst open followed by an enraged Buffy. The blonde Slayer ran to the table and slammed her palms down on the top, the tabled creaked in protest.

"Glory has Faith" she gritted out.

She was met with silence for half a minute, until Dawn whimpered, "W-what? How?"

"She got demons to come and distract us. Her minions took Faith."

"Who has Faith? Faith is mine!" shouted the Buffybot. The robot tossed her book to the side and ran down to the group, not noticing the menacing glare that Buffy shot her.

"Why would Glory take Faith?" asked Willow.

"I don't even know! It's not like Glory has even seen Faith before, why kidnap her?" Buffy shouted.

Xander answered, "Well she's been patrolling a lot with us and you. Maybe Glory thinks she can get Faith to find the Key, or use her as bait…" he left the sentence hanging.

The dread descended on everyone as they realized what Glory could do to Faith.

"That doesn't make sense though" Buffy reasoned, "She could have kidnapped any of you guys before, I don't think she's smart enough for that."

"Then I don't know why she would take Faith then" Xander threw out, "She just came here, she's never even crossed paths with Glory. I don't think Glory even knows there are two Slayers, nobody knows about Faith, she just came back into town."

"Xander's right" added Willow, "Glory wouldn't know that. Faith's only been back for a few days so it doesn't make sense that Glory would just kidnap her like that."

Lester rubbed the back of his neck and asked, "You guys said Glory's looking for the Key right? And she thinks that the Slayer, meaning Buffy, only knows where the Key is… if she somehow knows that Missy is also a Slayer, would she think that Missy is protecting the Key too?"

"No" Buffy shook her head, "She doesn't know she's a Slayer. News of another Slayer coming back to Sunnydale hasn't gotten out, or else the Council would already be here."

"What would the purpose be to kidnap Faith?" Giles pondered, "Faith just arrived back in town, Glory would have no information about her…unless…oh dear."

"Oh dear?" asked Buffy, "Oh dear what? Finish the sentence Giles!"

"U-Unless…unless Glory thinks that Faith is the new factor in your life, and from how protective you and the Buffybot have been of her…she might think…"

"That she's the Key" Dawn finished for him. The youngest Summers felt absolutely guilty and horrible for dragging her friend into this mess, Faith might be paying the consequences for her own existence and she couldn't help but feel that it was all her fault.

"Wait, the Key is a human?" asked Torrance. "How's that even possible?"

"That's not what is important right now" Buffy almost snarled at the blonde cheerleader

"People!" interrupted the Buffybot, "Friends of mine, you're forgetting the most important thing, Glory has Faith and we need to get Faith back! I will crush her head in for taking her away!"

Buffy sucked in a huge gulp of air, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but she's…it's right. What's important is getting her back, and Glory better hope to .God…or whatever the hell she worships that she hasn't harmed her. Grab some weapons, we're going to get her back. Now."

"We don't even know where to look" Willow said.

"I know where to start."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

In the lavish penthouse full of expensive antique furniture, Glory lounged around on the sofa in a short satin teal dress, her minions scouring to feed their Goddess grapes and do her other whims. The pampered Goddess flipped through the latest fashion magazine that her minions gave her to waste some time before planning her next move to find her Key. Her relaxing afternoon was interrupted when her minions barged in through the door with an irate girl spewing curse words every second. Glory threw her magazine aside and walked up to her minions, her face full of fury.

"What the hell is that and why is it here?"

Faith looked at who spoke with such a haughty attitude and immediately cocked her head to the side. "Courtney? Why are you here? What the hell happened to your hair? And what are you wearing?"

"It's Glory!" said the Goddess.

"Glory? You named your dress?"

No! Okay why am I wasting my time? Why did you bring her here? Another treat for me to brain suck?" The God prepared to ram her hands into Faith's head but the minions started protesting immediately.

"No! The most wonderful Glorificus, we bring you…the Key!"

Glory's attitude immediately changed and she looked at Faith in wonder. "The Key? For real?"

"I'm not the fucking Key!" shouted Faith.

Turning towards her minions, Glory raised an eyebrow at them, commanding them to explain the situation.

"Your Unholiness, we observed the Slayer," Jinx pointed at Faith. "She protected this one above all others. She treated this one as precious."

"Really? Precious?" She shoved Jinx to the side and approached the bound slayer. "Let's take a peek at you, precious."

The Goddess held onto Faith's chin and tilted up and around. "Looks just like any other human to me."

"Get your hands off me" Faith hissed through gritted teeth.

She gently slapped Faith's cheek, but it still stung. "How is it that I've never seen you with the Slayer before now, precious?" asked Glory, still skeptical about this one being the key.

The brunette Slayer knew that this was the big bad Goddess that Buffy and the gang was terrified of, she wasn't sure what the deal was with her but knew that she needed to keep calm.

"I don't know what you're talking about lady" said Faith, glaring at the red-headed Goddess.

"Now now," said the suddenly sweet tempered Goddess. "If you're my key, then it's time for preparations for my homecoming."

"What?" Faith's face scrunched up in a frown.

"Minions!" shouted Glory, ignoring Faith. "Time to build my tower and get my priests ready for the portal!" Glory held Faith's head with both of her hands, her lips were spread in a maniacal grin. "Time to pretty you up."

– **O – O –**

"I don't need a babysitter Buffy" complained Dawn. She glared at her older sister, crossing her thin arms across her chest.

Buffy placed her hands on her sister's shoulders, squeezing them slightly. "Dawn," Buffy pleaded. "I need to know that you're safe. I can't go out there and find Faith if I have to worry about you too. Please, just stay here with them."

Reluctantly, Dawn nodded her head. "Fine, but you better bring her back."

"I will." Buffy turned towards Lester and Torrance. "Watch her."

"Don't worry about Dawn," Torrance said. "We'll take care of her."

As the rest of the gang gathered their weapons and left the Magic Box, Torrance was pacing back and forth along the bookshelves as she bit her jagged thumbnail. Even though she was confident that Buffy would try everything in her power to bring her friend back, she was still worried that Faith would get hurt. With everything the Scoobs had told her about their enemy, Torrance knew they needed back up. She glanced at Lester who was trying to distract Dawn.

"I'm gonna go the restroom," Torrance announced. Without another word, she spun on her heels and headed to the back of the store. When she was out of earshot, the blonde pulled out her cell phone. Once she heard a response, she said, "Missy's been kidnapped, you need to get down here right now." Then she hung up. She tapped the phone across her palm and prayed that they would all come back safely.

– **O – O –**

"She's close," the Buffybot stated with a nod of her head.

Buffy narrowed her eyes. "How do you know?"

"Can't you feel it?" Buffybot pointed to her chest. "It's this tingly feeling I get here, the closer I am to her, the stronger it gets." She tilted her head to the side and added in afterthought, "It feels really nice."

Giles looked between Buffy and the Buffybot, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "Buffy, have you ever had this," he paused to find the right word. "This tingling the robot described?"

Biting her lip, Buffy thought back to all the interactions she had with the younger slayer. "No," she shook her head.

The old watcher pursed his lips. "Nothing to worry about Buffy," he tried to reassure her. "It might just be the slayer essence is more potent." He turned towards the robot and cleared his throat. "And uh…Bu-you can feel her then?" Giles wasn't sure how to address the robot, but probably calling her Buffy wasn't the smartest choice, especially when he can feel his Slayer glaring at him.

"I sure can Guyles," Buffybot said, with a hard G instead of a soft G.

"Guyles?" the ex-librarian said with an air of indignation. If he were a teenage girl he would have stomped his foot too. "Spike didn't even bother to program my name right!"

Buffy rolled her eyes. Sometimes her Watcher could be a bit immature. "What matters is if she…" Buffy paused and corrected herself. "**It** can find Faith." She glared at the robot who only gave her a face splitting smile in response. "Can you lead us to her?"

Closing her eyes, the Buffybot concentrated on the pleasant slayer tingles, honing in on Faith. "Yes, I can find her, she's that way!" She pointed towards a row of apartment complexes. "Evil beware, I'm coming to rescue my Faith!" The Buffybot sprinted, one fist in the air.

Xander lifted a confused eyebrow, "Huh? I didn't know robots could be religious."

"Buffybot means the person Faith," Willow rolled her eyes.

The robot was now a small speck in the distance.

"Goddamnit," Buffy cursed, running at top speed to keep up with the robot.

The rest of the Scooby gang took another second to gather their wits before running after them, but not before they groaned at yet another exerting physical activity. By the time the Scoobs caught up, Buffy was surveying the apartment complex with Buffybot staring.

"So it's here?" Buffy asked the Bot. "Are you sure?"

The Bot nodded its' head. "I can feel Faith most here, like she's on top of me." The Buffybot pointed up the building.

"That's a nice visual…" Xander mumbled, loud enough for Buffy's Slayer sense to pick up. He cowered slightly with Buffy's intense glare and put his hands up to placate the scary blonde.

"What's the plan Buffy?" Willow asked.

"Go in, take Faith and run."

"Uhhm…" Xander raised his hand. "Good in theory, but I distinctly remember Glory can kick all of our butts."

Buffy gritted her teeth, now that Faith was so near she didn't want to give up this chance to get her back. "Now we have three Slayers here."

Giles placed his hand on Buffy's arm. "I know you're anxious to get her back Buffy, we all are." He squeezed her twitching bicep. "But we have to have a plan to ensure Faith's safety as well as our own."

"I know Giles," Buffy gripped his hand. "Okay, we'll do some recon now and figure out how to get Faith out, preferably unseen." The Slayer in her was roaring to just break in and do some damage, but Buffy suppressed the urge. Glory might move to another hideout or worse kill Faith.

A small shriek from the Buffybot startled the group, especially when she crouched down onto the ground clutching her chest. Buffy cautiously approached, could robots feel pain? Was that even possible? Or had Warren programmed her so much like a human?

The Buffybot surged up, her eyes a faint shimmering gold. "Who dares hurt my mate?" the Buffybot growled.

"Faith's hurt?" Buffy asked, her own apprehension and anger growing. It never occurred to her that the word mate was synonymous with Faith now.

The Buffybot didn't hear Buffy, instead she turned on her heels and ran into the building.

"Why does she keep doing that?" Xander shook his head. The rest of the gang ran after the Bot. All pretenses of a plan were just thrown out the window. They were very lucky to have just stepped inside, a broken chair and scattered glass littered the spot they were just on, but everyone was too busy racing up stairs to have heard it.

– **O – O –**

Glory inspected her chipped nail. The Goddess's lips narrowed in fury, she had just painted them too! "You little bitch," Glory seethed. "Look what your face did to my nail!"

Faith spat out a mouthful of blood at Glory's feet. Even though the right side of her face was throbbing, she still managed to give the Goddess a smartass smirk with blood on her teeth. "Guess your nail is just brittle, just like your hair."

Snarling at the irritating Slayer, Glory barely held her fury back while she gripped Faith's chin between her fingers. "If you weren't my precious key," Glory spat. "I would have had you torn limb from limb and brain sucked."

"Mind getting out of my face?" Faith hissed.

Glory increased the pressure on Faith's face, her anger starting to consume her. "I do what I want and right now I want to rip your head off."

"Then do it," Faith taunted and expelled another mixture of her saliva and blood straight into Glory's eyes.

The Goddess reeled back and hastily wiped at the disgusting fluids across her face, she screamed in such rage that the walls shook around them. Glory heard Faith laughing at her and all control over her temper erupted; the little bitch was going to pay, key or no key. She lunged at the bound Slayer, her hands poised to slam Faith into the ground, until her minions got in the way.

"You must not!" Jinx shoved Faith out of the room.

"Move it!" Glory shouted, her vision tinged in pink from the leftover blood. "She's going to die and she's going to die **now**."

"Glorificus, the key must remain unharmed until she is to be sacrificed. Please, she must be safe until your glorious homecoming," said another minion, bowing slightly in both fear and reverence.

Glory screamed again and flung her chair out her window and kicked another minion in the stomach. She pointed at the still chuckling Faith, "Get her out of my sight!"

"Yes Glorificus!" the minions all but climbed over themselves to get out of Glory's wrath. "Where shall we place her then?"

"Just get her out of here!" Glory threw another chair at them.

The minions pulled Faith with them down the stairs, anywhere out of reach of Glory's wrath. When they got close to the ground floor, the minions came to a sudden halt. The Buffybot was slinking over to them, her lips pulled into a snarl. She grabbed the minion closest to her and easily snapped its' neck. Dropping the body, Buffybot spotted Faith and her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. Her mouth curled into a snarl once she spotted Faith's slightly bruised cheek. Jumping over the startled minions, Buffybot tossed the minion that dared touch her Faith over the stairs where he smacked his head against the marble floor.

As the Buffybot viciously pummeled Glory's servants, Faith wriggled her bound wrists back and forth against one of the minion's fallen weapon. The rope was slowly giving away and Faith wrenched the rest of the threads apart with her Slayer strength. Back in the game, Faith immediately held one of the minions in a crushing headlock and kicked out at another one beside her. The fight was advancing towards the ground floor, where a fresh flood of minions came down the elevator and the group of Scoobies was fighting them off.

"Faith!" Buffy shouted, finally seeing her sister Slayer emerge with a few cuts and bruises on her face. The blonde slayer somersaulted across the room, her legs occasionally hitting a minion or two across the head.

Together, the Chosen two went back to back, taking out Glory's lowly servants in perfect synchrony. A perfectly executed roundhouse kick to the balding minion knocked him down for good. A fierce elbow jab to the solar plexus and the minion fled up the stairs, only to be hit unconscious with an uppercut by the Buffybot. The fight was immensely unfair, not only three Slayers were in attendance but the ragtag group of Scoobies could hold their own in a fight, often with a helping punch or kick from Buffy or Faith.

Finally, the minions retreated back to Glory and the Scoobies immediately tended to Faith, who besides a few minor injuries was perfectly fine. The Buffybot grabbed onto Faith's arm, her golden eyes gave way to hazel and her ferociousness evaporated once the danger to her mate abated. A face splitting grin once again adorned the Bot as she gazed at Faith.

Waving them away, Faith grinned with a split lip. "I'm good. Not even a faux-God can handle me." She patted Buffybot's hand that was still locked across her forearm.

Rolling her eyes, Buffy smacked Faith's stomach, a bit harder than she intended to but given that Faith was paying more attention to the robot, she felt it was justified. "Egotistically much? As much as I'd like to take Glory out now, we should get the hell out of here."

– **O – O –**

Dawn immediately leapt up from her seat and engulfed Faith in a tight hug once they had returned to the Magic Box. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears and she sniffled against Faith's neck. Seeing Faith alive and well slightly alleviated the guilt she had at Faith getting captured. "God, you're okay!"

Hugging the younger Summers back in equal fervor, Faith chuckled but was touched at how much Dawn cared for her well-being. She smoothed Dawn's hair back. "It's okay lil D." She looked over at Lester and Torrance, they were hovering around her waiting for Dawn to finish. Their apprehension over her was gone when Faith flashed them a quirked smile along with a wink. Leave it to Faith to keep up her attitude even after being kidnapped.

Giles, ever the Watcher, interrupted their little reunion. "Faith, what happened when you were there?"

Buffy gently took Dawn away from Faith and held her. Everyone was curious to know just what happened and why Faith wasn't brain-sucked.

Running a hand through her unruly locks, Faith sighed. "Not much to be honest. Got kidnapped, brought to the chick with a bad perm and then got rescued."

"Seriously?" Buffy raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Way to summarize and leave us completely confused."

"Okay fine." Faith rolled her eyes. Geez, if Giles and Buffy wanted a detailed report they could've said so. "So Glory or whatever kept saying I was her key and to build something to get home." She caught Giles's eager stare at new information. "I can't really remember what she said," Faith reluctantly admitted, deflating the Watcher's excitement. "But she started pissing me off with all her poking and gibberish. I kind of just kept trash talking her and she finally lost it. Was a good thing though or else those dwarves wouldn't have dragged me down stairs."

"Wow Sis, you sure do have a mouth on you even when you're in danger," a voice floated from the backroom. All eyes turned towards the young brunette boy, who had on a similar annoying smirk Faith always had. "Hey," he awkwardly waved his hand.

"Who the hell are you?" Buffy immediately bristled. If Glory had sent someone else after them, she was going to send him right back, most likely in pieces.

"Dude relax. I'm her older brother," he explained and pointed towards Faith.

"What the hell are you doing here Cliff?" Faith crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

His easy-going demeanor immediately darkened. Narrowing his eyes at his younger sister, Cliff clenched his fists. "What the hell are you doing getting kidnapped and not telling me?"

"Gee sorry I couldn't call you about that, I kind of had my hands tied up. Literally."

"Then good thing _someone_ had the foresight to call me," he nodded towards a sheepish Torrance. "Cause I sure would have liked to get a call from the hospital when you turn up in a coma."

Faith sighed and glanced up at the ceiling. "Don't be so dramatic, you sound like Whitney."

"Hey, don't compare me to a drama queen cheerleader," Cliff stomped his foot.

Buffy couldn't believe she was seeing Faith act like such a little sister in front of her eyes, but maybe that's why she and Dawn got along so well. "Uhh…sorry to interrupt this little sibling spat, but there's sort of a Goddess still gunning for our blood."

"Maybe I could help with that."

The Scooby gang's jaws dropped at the new addition to their impromptu meeting. Giles was frozen on the spot, his heart dropping to his stomach. "J-Jenny?" It wasn't possible, there was no possible explanation for the arrival of his dead lover.

"Hello Rupert," Jenny said, a sad smile tinged on her lips. "It's good to see you again."


End file.
